From the comments:
The Good:
*Jefferson was a machine. He was scoring at will and looking very good doing so.
*Kevin Ollie and Brian Cardinal and Jason Collins and Mark Madsen didn’t play. McHale played the right guys.
*Kevin Love is a top flight NBA rebounder.
*Randy Foye can score and make shots, although it should be noted that he was “4th Quarter Foye” in the worst sense last night, scoring quite a few of his points when the game was far out of reach.The Bad:
*Our defensive intensity is shit. We had a lot of breakdowns where we didn’t double Duncan and when we did, we didn’t rotate over onto Finley, who is arguably the best perimeter shooter on their team. He got a bunch of open looks from the corner thanks to good ball rotation around the perimeter and slow defensive rotations.
*We missed a lot of free throws again. It was like it was contagious. Love needs to start making his throws.
*Mike Miller looks like a role player, just as he has been his entire career. I don’t know why people keep denying this. Just because he won rookie of the year in a weak class doesn’t mean that he’s a star. I know he’s been injured, but his performance last night was a microcosm of the first quarter of this season. I just don’t think he’s the kind of offensive player that people who weren’t familiar with him before the season were expecting.
*Rhino lost his cool and had a tougher time making buckets in the second half. He got in foul trouble, and at times looked like, well, a rhino in a china shop.
*Foye looks a lot better lately, but he still doesn’t know when to pass and when to shoot. He passes on many open jumpers at the beginning of our offensive sets because he wants to pass the ball at least once before he will consider shooting. But those open j’s are high percentage shots for him, and we’d be better off if he’d shoot some of them. The only way we’ll benefit from having him as our point is if he can use his combo skills to his advantage, i.e., scoring the ball when he can.The Ugly:
*Shaddy can’t make a shot right now. Now he’s missing all his layups (at least three uncontested ones last night wouldn’t drop in). He’s KILLING any trade value he might’ve had and playing his way out of the rotation. He’s lucky Brewer isn’t healthy, or he might not get off the bench.
*Love’s interior offensive game is still overmatched. Even the guys on Wolves live, who are a pair of committed homers, said last night that they think he might never be able to be effective down there. Ouch.
*Bassy’s shot looks as bad as ever, too. He can’t pose any kind of offensive threat out there, at least right now. I’m not sure what his future is with this team.