CHICAGO – Considering that control of the Chicago Bulls, at the time the NBA calendar was published this summer, probably turned Tuesday night’s game around tuesday night’s red, look at that in blood, and placed it on an executive suite marker only added to the environment at the United Center.
Here’s Tom Thibodeau, so undeservedly knocked down through the Bulls in May 2015 despite his 0. 647 win percentage and 3 seasons (out of five) of 50 wins, barking and tracking the UC bandline for the first time. His young Timberwolves were punched in the nose of the hard collective, losing 26-6 in the middle of the first quarter. And yet they blinked, cleared their heads and left after winning 99-94. It was only Minnesota’s seventh win in 25 attempts this season, but, more emotionally, it was a rematch/return game for the team coach, who heard cheers and applause as he headed to the box before the report.
“Get the victory what we needed,” Thibodeau lied later.
Well, then “lied” could be exaggerated. The wolves needed a victory, almost as much as Thibodeau sought to give it to his former employers. He never went out and said it in four separate 30-hour sessions with reporters before and after the game. Thibodeau told all about his good memories of Chicago, his appreciation for the Bulls’ opportunity and victory (“Ninety-nine percent”) and the learning curve of his new team.
But anyone who knows the 58-year-old coach knows there were more than a few bumps and smiles behind closed doors for beating the team that showed him theirs.
“We’re looking to win the game for him,” said baseman Zach LaVine. “We all know that. It’s just a game, but it’s a little bigger. “
In retrospect, Minnesota expects its return to Chicago to be profiled as a breakthrough or turning point. An “Eureka!” moment that, even if he propels them to Houston on Saturday in Minneapolis (8 ET, NBA LEAGUE PASS), moves them to at least one plateau where they no longer lose three games out of four.
No one can deny that the wolves until Tuesday night had been bad, their record being near the back of the NBA. His home camp, Target Center, showed no shelter (3-9, adding six direct defeats). They suffered fatal performances in many of their defeats. And they rarely found a comfortable advantage they couldn’t waste, as they wasted seven games in 2016-17 in which they led 10 or more tracks.
“I tell our players all the time not to get lost in what others say. All they have is that they don’t skip steps. Put everything you have in the day, do the right things. . . “»
– Wolf trainer Tom Thibodeau
Defensively, they were a disaster. It’s bad enough that the Wolves rank 29th in their opponents’ location consistently with the percentage, the 25 in loose shots allowed, the 22 in allowed issues in line with the game and the 27th in defensive odds. possessions to the league average (107. 1), depending on basketball-reference. com.
And all of that hurt the tutelage of Thibodeau, a fellow whose career, whose very essence, is explained through defense, in the 410 regular-season games he worked for the Bulls, his groups burned down for 115 issues or more in the rules. only 11 times his groups of Wolves have done so 10 times in the first 24 games.
Minnesota’s offensive numbers were solid: Top 10 offenses, percentage-consistent offensive rebounds, fumble rate. They have 3 starters averaging 20 game-consistent problems: Andrew Wiggins 22. 2, Karl-Anthony Towns 21. 4 and LaVine 20. 5, and combined the 3 21-year-olds exceed their combined ages.
But I hope Thibodeau’s in both cities and hotel suites on the street are on low floors or in hermetically enclosed buildings.
“What do you gain in this league?” Thibodeau said, right now, I’m satisfied with our offensive situation, but defensively, we have to replace that. We have to paint on it. Understand how hard it is to win in this league and the intensity with which you have to play all the time.
Here’s something else you want to be incorporated into all the questions about the tongue-twisters in the Timberwolves and their disappointing departure: patience it’s a league, more specifically, it’s the other people who cover, stick and sometimes paint in this league, which not only becomes look-to-look, but is also stupid in their impatience.
When Thibodeau was hired as coach and president of basketball operations, Minnesota was promptly advocated as a team destined to make a big leap this season, after all, he had gone from 16 to 29 victories last season with Sam Mitchell hampered as interim coach (after the illness and death of Flip Saunders). People looked at Thibodeau’s skill and track record and assumed the Wolves would take or compete for a minor spot in the playoffs in the West.
But it all comes down to perspective. Cities, Wiggins and LaVine only age one day a day. Thibodeau is the Wolves’ fourth coach in four seasons, and the one whose formula and taste necessarily require a replacement on his new team.
His good fortune only with Derrick Rose (when he was healthy) as a game creator with a maximum score and dominating the ball, but with a good fortune of notable scorers in the replacement role (DJ Augustin, Aaron Brooks, Nate Robinson) obviously proved that there would be adjustments. or upcoming settings for Ricky Rubio, the game creator par excellence, goes first, rarely shoots.
Kris Dunn, the 22-year-old chosen by Providence’s four-year-old lottery?Beginner, Point of Custody. Under Thibodeau, ” said Nuff.
Of course, any transition, smooth or dramatic, would take time. Now, lean toward a veterans bank (Cole Aldrich, Brandon Rush, Jordan Hill, John Lucas III) who have most commonly given recommendations to other young people than help in The Field. And some stress and intensity disorders with Wiggins. Et extensions of selfishness, or at least tunnel vision, through cities. And laVine’s mistakes of aggression or absolute pride.
“The expectations are very high. Sometimes it’s hard to meet them. We don’t live up to our criteria right now. We’re just looking to fight that. “
– Zach LaVine
In short, the kind of things that are expected of 21-year-olds, on a team with limited secondary options, and yet the Wolves were destined to play a ball of the caliber of the playoffs . . . in this new system. . . December.
Sheesh.
“I tell our players all the time not to get lost in what others say,” Thibodeau said. “The only thing that has themes is not skipping steps. Put everything you have in the day, do the right things. . . “
In this, Thibodeau on a good run, his ismos of non-loose-not-strings becoming fast and livid again.
For their credit, the Wolves have shown enough flashes of clearer days, through the greasy threads that then blown or large individual nights (three nights with 30 numbers or more of Towns, Wiggins and LaVine), to meet their own expectations.
“Expectations are a great thing,” LaVine said. ” Sometimes it’s hard to meet them. We don’t live up to our criteria right now. We’re just looking to fight that. And it’s still a long season, get back to the center of things. “
There were encouraging symptoms compared to the Bulls. Rubio had a quiet double-double with 11 problems and 10 assists, and restored the overdue order after an attempted attack through Wiggins turned a 95-91 Wolves lead into a 95-95 draw. on a Tuesday after the fact, however, his last seven games have been more productive (6. 9 points, 2. 9 assists, 54. 1% field shots) 18 (3. 3 points per game, 2. 5 points per game, 31. 3% field shots).
Wiggins manages to look awake and worried about some frantic periods in the games, and his 23 problems and nine rebounds were accompanied by 0 ball losses, a first time this season. Towns fired 6 of 21 and scored 16, but had 12 rebounds, discovered some teammates to attend and blocked three shots in the middle of the moment.
“There are other tactics you can influence a game besides scoring 30 or 40 points,” last season’s rookie of the year said, as if to remember. “You can have an effect on the game with energy, enthusiasm, passion. you play, talk, play defensively.
“I’m more proud of myself than even though I’m not pulling well at all, I’m able to locate other tactics to influence the game much more than just scoring. “
And so on, the slow dripping of maturity. It’s easy to forget, their ability obscures their chronology, however, the Wolves are advancing their learning curve with their 3 vital players still young enough to be in college. The All-Star Game to flex its postseason value, okay?
Aldrich, when asked what it’s like to stick to the rigorous NBA calendar run by 21-year-olds, said, “You know, if there was a book, I probably would have read it this summer. No, they’re fun. ” They’re young, they have energy. They just have to keep learning. They gave some of us that we’ve been a little in the league, we’re just looking to teach the boys everything we know and help us locate each other. tactics to win».
Counting is one thing. Experience is another.
“There are no shortcuts to success,” Towns said. ” You have to make an effort all the time if it’s necessary to achieve your goals and aspirations. “
Even a couple of No. 1 selections that have been shown with offensive highlights and a two-time blasting bell. Things like defense, consistency and intensity will be adopted regardless.
“People who say they are disappointed with our team and the effects from the beginning, I am more than disappointed,” Towns said. “It’s just a sign of our competitiveness in the first place, and how well we see ourselves.
“Tonight is a big step forward. For the next 3 days off, we want to keep training, running in our game and improving. Keep building, block by block. “
Steve Aschburner has been writing about the NBA since 1980. You can email him here, his files here and follow him on Twitter.
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