[Game] Kings @ Wolves, 11/24/2023 5pm Pacific 8pm Eastern
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What a win, 4-2 on the road trip with several impressive wins. The NOLA games were tough, but one of those was close and the other was the second night of a B2B. Feels like our record is better than 9-6, we certainly feel like a better team than last season. Not sure what the stays say, but the defense looks better and guys are clicking on offense very well.
Only watched the 2nd half but we consistently took it to the basket from what I saw. Even with Gobert sagging back, we took it right at him. Scored 58pts in the paint vs. 42 for Twolves. Love seeing us set the tone down low, force them to help, then we pass it out for 3. Seemed like a point of emphasis for Brown today
Awesome, Awesome win.
Kings have been a little strange this year. Looked absolutely dominant in our wins (Portland aside) and looked like absolute jokesters in 3 of our losses, 1 heartbreaker loss to GS and 2 normal-ish losses to GS and and NOP. Fighting through a pile of injuries and a very heavy road schedule to start the year and to be 9-6? Amazing. That tough schedule will get paid back at some point for us.
Kings have been a little strange this year. Looked absolutely dominant in our wins (Portland aside) and looked like absolute jokesters in 3 of our losses, 1 heartbreaker loss to GS and 2 normal-ish losses to GS and and NOP. Fighting through a pile of injuries and a very heavy road schedule to start the year and to be 9-6? Amazing. That tough schedule will get paid back at some point for us.
I totally understand the refs have no respect for the Kings but I was SMH att one point of the game when the Twolves got to the foul line 18 effn times and we had only been 3 times. I mean I’m not a Genius but sure seems so effn lopsided like WTH .I saw clearly too many fouls on Monk, Domas and Fox that weren’t called even though the ref was like right there and clearly saw it but just plain a$$ refuse to give the Kings any call at all. I was kind of hoping this year they’d start showing us some respect and credit when due….. silly me
Also, really is hard keeping Keon (when he gets back) and Kessler out of the LU. They just bring everything we lack on defense; great length, great on-ball defense, great hands and playing the passing lanes and work extremely hard defensively. I'm not quite sure if they're guaranteed rotation on a playoff team yet, or if they can ever figure out how to be passable offensively, but I think it's probably worth investing in their development. If they hit, they're the EXACT archetype of wing/guard defenders we have to surround Fox/Domas with. The only way to improve on defense is playing good defensive players; and they're good defensive players
Random thoughts on the game 11/24/23
Wolves are record wise best team in the Western Conference and the #1 overall defense coming into this game.
Kings came out on fire making almost literally every three in the 1st (10/11)... Honestly I don't watch the Timberwolves much but I can also understand how they are the #1 overall defense, but tonight I think they would have benefited from going smaller to guard but they were missing who I think is their 3rd most important player in Jaden McDaniels. We were also missing Keegan, but it was a tough gritty game with some seriously one sided refereeing, seems like they aren't even trying to hide it anymore. Seriously impressive team effort and team win, showed some mental toughness, showed some emotion and grit as well. Kings just kept getting punched figuratively and literally but they were the better team tonight.
I don't know if the Wolves can get away with Gobert + Kat forever, Gobert in the playoffs in Utah would routinely get attacked on the perimeter in Pick and Roll and it was tough to recover. KAT is a Center and Gobert is a center, sometimes they occupy the same space on the court despite KAT and his great shooting. So yeah they were really missing Mcdaniels tonight, maybe they go smaller and have one of Gobert and Kat sit and play Jaden at 4 and maybe the Kings don't get so many open threes.. maybe Conley gets to handle more in PnR with Kat or Gobert..It's kind of a weird
situation to be in but I also do not watch the Wolves that often, KAT has been on a tear but also Naz Reid was terrible tonight.
Barnes - This was a perfect game for Barnes because we know Barnes is too slow to guard traditional 3's but also too small to guard traditional 4's he's always been kind of a tweener but he used his tools very well today and showed that versatility he can bring. Wolves were guarding Barnes with KAT but he was absolutely torching him in a 4-5 pick and roll to start the game, KAT was going under every screen, Gobert did not want to show and it caused kind of a weird situation where Barnes had to shoot alot of in between shots and that he did. Barnes played real tough tonight and took some shots (hits) and stayed with his role.
Kessler Edwards - We've been asking to see Kessler lately and we got it, played strong and physical, really impacted the game with his defense and size, routinely had many stops on the other Edwards and his length and ability to play individual defense really stopped whatever engine was driving the Wolves tonight. He had a nice offensive game today as well and if he didn't rush a layup he would've had 2 more points. It's all we really need from him to impact the game, length and defense and making your spot up shots. With Sasha playing terribly lately Kessler really came in and balanced the lineup.
Trey Lyles - Man, it is good to have this man right here back. Played really well, guarded KAT, could switch onto their other bigs. He is always a threat to shoot so it causes defenders who are usually bigs have to second guess their decsion on guarding him. Trey is so important because he gives us one dimension that has been missing and that is stretching the floor from 3PT at the big man position. I don't know if you guys remember but he was also one of the big reasons we won one of the games at Minnesota last year as well. He played C that game and drew Gobert out, he could drive by him, draw fouls or shoot the three.. He is really shooting well since he got back. Trey always brings that physicality that we kind of wish Keegan would have and can develop, he really bolsters our rebounding and you'll see him boxing out. Really underrated player, he really fills that versatility and impact that we were missing from the 4 Position and backup PF/C.
Malik Monk - King showed up tonight and was a flamethrower off the bench.. it's interesting, NBA pace is a hard thing to keep up but we have the players to do it and it showed tonight. At one point he had like 11 points in 4 minutes. Wolves go with a 2 Center Lineup and it just seems like to hell to guard the Kings, it almost seems like two styles dueling each other, because if Edwards gets half the free throws he was getting the Wolves are basically in Garbage time the entire game. So basically they could not guard the three at all tonight, most of them were wide open. The wolves pulled a Kangz and sometimes had Kyle Anderson out there trying to guard him and he would just go right by him, kind of like how sometimes we see guards just blow by Barnes but im pretty sure Kyle Anderson is slower lol.. so this isn't a shot at Black Falcon at all.
Dearron Fox - Honestly tonight, I thought we were going to see Fox have one of his subpar games tonight but I was completely wrong. Dude competed all night long and was the only one consistently with Sabonis trying to get in the paint despite Marc Davis being absolutely crap at his job. I thought he was still feeling that ankle.. feeling sluggish until he got the ball on the break and absolutely left Kyle Anderson just standing at the 3pt line by himself and he just absolutely detonated his frustrations on the rim. I watched the game and thought to myself "man Dearron is having it tough out there" then I check the box score and he has 36/7/12. He was really controlling the game and maybe it seems like I am taking it for granted since I see it every night now. Surgical.
Javale Mcgee - Javale Dunking = Javale Gooding , asking anything else from the man is like Russian Roulette.
Davion - This is a tough one for me, Davion did make his shots tonight, but then again so was everyone else lol.. It's just went I see Davion play as a "PG" his passes are always erratic, he had a turnover zip out of bounds, another Straight line pass that was supposed to be picked by Naz reid mistimed it. I'm not trying to be critical of Davion but he played better tonight but only because he was hitting some of the shots he was taking. Made a open three but then immedietly came down again and shot another off the dribble.. and if that shot misses then.. yeah hes having a bad game. He was able to give Fox some rest time tonight, and that is probably one of the most important things this season as he recovers from his ankle injury.
Duarte - Chris Duarte
Huerter - Kev was playing well but with Monk and Kessler playing well at the same time he had a bit less minutes tonight. Loved his defense and deflections he got. Reliable this game.
Sabonis - Was getting beat up all night and only shot his first free throw in the end of the 4th from a blindside elbow to the back of the head.. Really need Mike to speak up about this stuff because Refs aren't even trying to hide it at this point. Played strong tonight against a big team with big interior players.. had FIVE offensive rebounds! I liked that he was taking more shots that he should be taking if they are going to sag off him, missed some bunnies that he usually makes, but he competed tonight and even made a three. He's starting to stretch the floor against these traditional centers.
Wolves are record wise best team in the Western Conference and the #1 overall defense coming into this game.
Kings came out on fire making almost literally every three in the 1st (10/11)... Honestly I don't watch the Timberwolves much but I can also understand how they are the #1 overall defense, but tonight I think they would have benefited from going smaller to guard but they were missing who I think is their 3rd most important player in Jaden McDaniels. We were also missing Keegan, but it was a tough gritty game with some seriously one sided refereeing, seems like they aren't even trying to hide it anymore. Seriously impressive team effort and team win, showed some mental toughness, showed some emotion and grit as well. Kings just kept getting punched figuratively and literally but they were the better team tonight.
I don't know if the Wolves can get away with Gobert + Kat forever, Gobert in the playoffs in Utah would routinely get attacked on the perimeter in Pick and Roll and it was tough to recover. KAT is a Center and Gobert is a center, sometimes they occupy the same space on the court despite KAT and his great shooting. So yeah they were really missing Mcdaniels tonight, maybe they go smaller and have one of Gobert and Kat sit and play Jaden at 4 and maybe the Kings don't get so many open threes.. maybe Conley gets to handle more in PnR with Kat or Gobert..It's kind of a weird
situation to be in but I also do not watch the Wolves that often, KAT has been on a tear but also Naz Reid was terrible tonight.
Barnes - This was a perfect game for Barnes because we know Barnes is too slow to guard traditional 3's but also too small to guard traditional 4's he's always been kind of a tweener but he used his tools very well today and showed that versatility he can bring. Wolves were guarding Barnes with KAT but he was absolutely torching him in a 4-5 pick and roll to start the game, KAT was going under every screen, Gobert did not want to show and it caused kind of a weird situation where Barnes had to shoot alot of in between shots and that he did. Barnes played real tough tonight and took some shots (hits) and stayed with his role.
Kessler Edwards - We've been asking to see Kessler lately and we got it, played strong and physical, really impacted the game with his defense and size, routinely had many stops on the other Edwards and his length and ability to play individual defense really stopped whatever engine was driving the Wolves tonight. He had a nice offensive game today as well and if he didn't rush a layup he would've had 2 more points. It's all we really need from him to impact the game, length and defense and making your spot up shots. With Sasha playing terribly lately Kessler really came in and balanced the lineup.
Trey Lyles - Man, it is good to have this man right here back. Played really well, guarded KAT, could switch onto their other bigs. He is always a threat to shoot so it causes defenders who are usually bigs have to second guess their decsion on guarding him. Trey is so important because he gives us one dimension that has been missing and that is stretching the floor from 3PT at the big man position. I don't know if you guys remember but he was also one of the big reasons we won one of the games at Minnesota last year as well. He played C that game and drew Gobert out, he could drive by him, draw fouls or shoot the three.. He is really shooting well since he got back. Trey always brings that physicality that we kind of wish Keegan would have and can develop, he really bolsters our rebounding and you'll see him boxing out. Really underrated player, he really fills that versatility and impact that we were missing from the 4 Position and backup PF/C.
Malik Monk - King showed up tonight and was a flamethrower off the bench.. it's interesting, NBA pace is a hard thing to keep up but we have the players to do it and it showed tonight. At one point he had like 11 points in 4 minutes. Wolves go with a 2 Center Lineup and it just seems like to hell to guard the Kings, it almost seems like two styles dueling each other, because if Edwards gets half the free throws he was getting the Wolves are basically in Garbage time the entire game. So basically they could not guard the three at all tonight, most of them were wide open. The wolves pulled a Kangz and sometimes had Kyle Anderson out there trying to guard him and he would just go right by him, kind of like how sometimes we see guards just blow by Barnes but im pretty sure Kyle Anderson is slower lol.. so this isn't a shot at Black Falcon at all.
Dearron Fox - Honestly tonight, I thought we were going to see Fox have one of his subpar games tonight but I was completely wrong. Dude competed all night long and was the only one consistently with Sabonis trying to get in the paint despite Marc Davis being absolutely crap at his job. I thought he was still feeling that ankle.. feeling sluggish until he got the ball on the break and absolutely left Kyle Anderson just standing at the 3pt line by himself and he just absolutely detonated his frustrations on the rim. I watched the game and thought to myself "man Dearron is having it tough out there" then I check the box score and he has 36/7/12. He was really controlling the game and maybe it seems like I am taking it for granted since I see it every night now. Surgical.
Javale Mcgee - Javale Dunking = Javale Gooding , asking anything else from the man is like Russian Roulette.
Davion - This is a tough one for me, Davion did make his shots tonight, but then again so was everyone else lol.. It's just went I see Davion play as a "PG" his passes are always erratic, he had a turnover zip out of bounds, another Straight line pass that was supposed to be picked by Naz reid mistimed it. I'm not trying to be critical of Davion but he played better tonight but only because he was hitting some of the shots he was taking. Made a open three but then immedietly came down again and shot another off the dribble.. and if that shot misses then.. yeah hes having a bad game. He was able to give Fox some rest time tonight, and that is probably one of the most important things this season as he recovers from his ankle injury.
Duarte - Chris Duarte
Huerter - Kev was playing well but with Monk and Kessler playing well at the same time he had a bit less minutes tonight. Loved his defense and deflections he got. Reliable this game.
Sabonis - Was getting beat up all night and only shot his first free throw in the end of the 4th from a blindside elbow to the back of the head.. Really need Mike to speak up about this stuff because Refs aren't even trying to hide it at this point. Played strong tonight against a big team with big interior players.. had FIVE offensive rebounds! I liked that he was taking more shots that he should be taking if they are going to sag off him, missed some bunnies that he usually makes, but he competed tonight and even made a three. He's starting to stretch the floor against these traditional centers.
Yep, that's literally all you need from him. 8-10 PPG on good efficiency and the confidence to take and hit the open jumper when it's there. I'm pretty confident he's a 1-4 flex defender (which would give the Kings 2 of those with Keegs development this year... crazy), but he's got to prove it on the offensive end that he's playable. Same problem Davion has run into and what we hope to discover with Keon this year as well.
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