13/14 NBA Season | ||
---|---|---|
vs. | ||
March 11, 2014 | ||
Target Center | Minneapolis, MN | ||
7:00 CT | ||
FS Wisconsin | 620 WTMJ | ||
Probable Starters | ||
Brandon Knight | PG | Ricky Rubio |
Nate Wolters | SG | Kevin Martin |
Khris Middleton | SF | Corey Brewer |
Ersan Ilyasova | PF | Kevin Love |
Zaza Pachulia | C | Nikola Pekovic |
2013/14 Advanced Stats | ||
91.7 (26th) | Pace | 97.4 (4th) |
101.8 (27th) | ORtg | 108.8 (9th) |
110.4 (30th) | DRtg | 104.9 (11th) |
On the Wolves: Canis Hoopus | Timber Pups | A Wolf Among Wolves
UPDATE. John Henson gets thrown to the wolves tonight.
Ersan Ilyasova (ankle) will not be available for the Bucks tonight. John Henson will get the start in his place. #MILvMIN
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) March 11, 2014
Wolves Update. The Timberwolves have some impressive wins in the last month or so, taking down Indiana at home and Phoenix on the road. In between those games they continue smashing bad teams to tiny bits with regularity, beating outfits like Denver, Utah, and Detroit by double-digits. But then they go ahead and lose to a Knicks team on a seven-game skid like they did last Wednesday. Every team has slip-ups, but the Wolves can look so dominant at times that it's shocking to see them sitting at .500 on the season.
The numbers back up that surprise. The Wolves are 10th in the Western Conference standings despite a point-differential that suggests they're one of the 10 best teams in the NBA! A 1-5 record in games decided by 3 points or less (worse than the 2-4 Bucks!) has a lot to do with it, especially if you consider how many games Minnesota has lost by just a few more points. Much of that is luck--record in close games is a pretty volatile statistic year-to-year, being determined by a few bounces of the ball over the course of an entire season. But where good teams are concerned, it usually regresses as the season goes on. For the Timberwolves, that lucky bounce-back just never seems to come.
Kevin Love continues to just tear things apart. He's 3rd in the NBA in PER and Win Shares, speaking to how comprehensively he's affecting the game right now. He's back to raining threes (38.0 3P%) and gobbling up rebounds (13.1 per game), and now he's dishing assists at almost twice the rate he's ever done before. Love keys an offense that never turns it over, crashes the offensive glass, and gets to the line a ton. But strangely enough, they're quite bad at shooting, just 24th in eFG%.
Minnesota's bench is a big problem--they just can't get any consistent offense off the pine. The Timberwolves score the 4th-fewest bench points in the NBA, with J.J. Barea's 8.7 per-game average the highest among non-starters. If the Wolves manage to earn a spot in the playoffs that weak bench shouldn't be as much of an issue, but in the regular season the shallow rotation has really hurt them at times.
UPDATE from Frank:
Bucks notes. Some required reading ahead of tonight's game:
- Save Our Bucks | The Arena Debate
The Milwaukee arena task force (and all its glorious 48 members) meet tonight at 6 pm. Check out all the details at SOB if you have a chance to go, and watch this space for updates on future meetings. We weren't able to send anyone to attend in person but hopefully will manage it next time around. - JS | 'Shot doctor' offers some shooting solutions for the Bucks
Good stuff here on what player development coach Josh Oppenheimer is doing with Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nate Wolters and Brandon Knight. Side note: if the bucks have a shot doctor, he should probably also be spending a lot of time with John Henson, right? - JS | Henson battles sophomore slump
Speaking of which: Charles Gardner confirms that Henson is working on his free throws, albeit it with big man coach Scott Williams. There's also the usual canned stuff about showing signs of life after a rough February, but definitely worth a read given the importance of getting Henson going over the last month of the season - NBA.com | Open season for open shooters
Did you know Khris Middleton is lethal when left open? Probably, but here's the data to back it up. - Some fun stats and notes following last night's 104-98 win over the Magic:
Khris Middleton last 15 games: 15.1 ppg on .518/.516/.864 shooting (63.2% TS). #BUTTER
— Frank Madden (@brewhoop) March 11, 2014
For those curious (and you should be if you're a Bucks fan): #2 team in lotto has 12.3% chance of picking 5th. http://t.co/i9oxhEl3Rx
— Frank Madden (@brewhoop) March 11, 2014
Fun fact: Brandon Knight is two months younger than Michael Carter-Williams and six months older than Victor Oladipo.
— Frank Madden (@brewhoop) March 11, 2014