Encouraged by discouragement

by Mike Prada on Dec 12, 2007 12:56 PM EST in Recaps

Box Score.
Game Flow.
Post recap.
Times recap.
DCIst's spectacular photo album.
Pick Nick Young's nickname.
The Blog Show correspondents.
Wolves Watch.
T-Wolves Blog.

Highest plus/minus: Antonio Daniels (+17)
Lowest plus/minus: DeShawn Stevenson (0)

I guess it's the sign of a good team when you can play so unevenly and still come away with a 14 point win. In that sense, I'm happy, because I think we were really all over the place tonight.

Take the first quarter. DeShawn Stevenson was really hot early, but once he cooled off, the offense went cold, and the defense allowed Craig Smith to look like Karl Malone. Roger Mason eventually provided a nice spark in the second, and the starters came out great after halftime, but Minnesota again made a run to cut it down to 8. Ultimately, they couldn't contain Brendan Haywood on the offensive glass, and we came away with a nice margin of victory.

Obviously, guys like Brendan Haywood, Roger Mason, and DeShawn Stevenson played well, but I have a problem with Antawn Jamison once again taking more shots than Caron Butler. It also didn't help that Craig Smith had an insane game, mostly with Jamison guarding him. I like that Jamison can create his own shot, and despite what David Berri may think, it's a skill to be a high-usage player, but when he's shooting so many bad three-pointers early in the shot clock, it helps nobody. Caron Butler is a much more efficient player than Antawn Jamison, so can we please be more patient and create a better opportunity for Butler? I'd like to see those two run the screen and roll together, especially against bigger teams.

Speaking of, I can see how teams with two post players could just carve us up. If we're dealing with just one post player, Brendan Haywood can completely take him out of the game, like he did with Al Jefferson tonight. If we're dealing with two, then you'll have nights like last night where someone like Craig Smith goes off. I don't really know what we can do about that, especially without Darius Songaila, but it'll probably hurt down the road against a team like Detroit or Indiana (with Ike Diogu).

But again, it's the sign of a good team when you don't play well and still win by 14. In the end, last night was encouraging.

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Comments

stop hating on jamo

Jamison takes bad shots, yes but who doesnt? the guy puts up 20 and 10 a game, and if he shoots a 3 early and makes it u love it, thats the type of player he is and we need him to just keep doing what he is doing. We need pecherov to get healthy quickly, i think the miami game tomorrow will be a huge test, they are playing great ball right now and we need to win to prove to ourselves

by chadwain on Dec 12, 2007 1:21 PM EST reply actions

"Hating" is for message boards

Not all 20 and 10s are created equally. I don't think Jamison is a bad player, and I agree that there is value in high-usage players, but I just wish he'd scale down his shots early in the shot clock. It makes our offense inefficient.

You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.

by Mike Prada on Dec 12, 2007 1:43 PM EST up reply actions

YES! Excellent Analysis on Jamison

Yes, he can create his own shot, no matter how awkward his floaters in the lane are. Yet, you are right, he takes too many (bad) shots!

Let's look at the last 3 games.

Jamison: 7-22, 7-21, 7-21. From 3: 3-16 (last 3 games).
I know stats don't tell the whole tale, but just watching those games, I remember yelling at the TV," NO, NO!" when Jamison would take some of the shots he did. (Not nearly as loud as I'd yell at Jahidi White trying to making moves on the block...)

Then I'd say, why hasn't Caron touched the ball in the last 5 posessions?

I love Caron, he's the most consistent player we've got (Arenas included). I love Gil, and we need him badly, but Caron is more consistent.

by se7en on Dec 12, 2007 2:40 PM EST reply actions

Because I'm an idiot...

...can I register my pick for tomorrow night's game already? Somehow, I realize in the morning of most Wiz game days that I intend to post a pick here and then manage without fail to completely forget by the time the thread is up.

Looks like the Wiz will be getting in the range of six and a half against Miami. I'll take the DC boys.

-sw

by Steve Weinman on Dec 13, 2007 12:15 AM EST reply actions

Twan's 3 point shooting

I agree that Twan's 3 point shots early in the shot clock need to be scaled back. Caron is a better shooter and should be taking more outside shots than Twan. I think Twan should be taking just enough of those outside shots to keep the defense on him honest so that he can get in the lane for those floaters.

For some reason I think Twan's 3 point misses are worse than when others miss them. I have no evidence to support that but it just seems that when he misses those quick 3s that the other team gets a fast break out of it. Maybe that's because if Twan's taking the 3 by definition that means our 4 man is not in a position to rebound. Maybe its because when he misses he tends to give up long rebounds that trigger fast breaks because his 3 pt shot has a flat arc.

by LoDawg31 on Dec 13, 2007 1:26 PM EST reply actions