# Game 2: Wolves(1-0) @ Sonics(0-1)



## sheefo13

*@*






*Date:*Friday, November 4th
*Time:*9:30 P.M.
*Arena:*Key Arena
*T.V.:*ESPN
*Wolves Last Game:*W vs. Blazers (90-86)
*[TEAM] Last Game:*L vs. Clippers(93-101)
*Last Meeting This Season:*N/A

*Wolves Lineup:*


































*Key Reserves:*






















Eddie Griffin/Richie Frahm/Rashad McCants 

_*VS.*_​

*Sonics Lineup:*


































*Key Reserves:*
*Will Update!*
*
Key Matchup:*

















*Sheefo's Keys To The Game:*Bound the ball downlow. This team does not have much of anything down there. So I think you will see a rather big game from Garnett and Olowokandi here. Hassell must contain Allen. He is known for torching the Wolves in his career. We need to cut down on the turnovers, and move the ball. Also hope someone will be able to guard Rashard Lewis. If we let Miles score 32 against us, I can't imagine what Lewis could do. If anything, make this team beat us down low. They have a lot of talent. Just try to contain them.


*Predicition:*Wolves Lose...
*Prediction Record:*(1-0)


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## SuperHerbie

Game Prediction:

Wolves Win!
(1-0 Prediction Record)

Score Guess:
Wolves 103
Sonics 96

SuperHerbie's key to the game:

Get the Kandiman some touches in the first half to establish our inside game.

Keep Seattle's defense honest by getting Wally and Jaric some mid- and long-range jumpers.

Force Rashard Lewis to beat us by denying the ball to Jesus Shuttlesworth.

Play the passing lanes to keep Collison from setting up easy looks for his team.

Keep the game from getting too up-tempo by playing more half-court sets.

And, of course, let the Ticket be the Ticket.

I'm far more concerned about Ray Allen beating us than Lewis. I know that Allen is a far more consistent player and can single-handedly lead them to victory. Sheef, your point about Miles abusing our D is not lost on me and I realize that Rashard>Lewis, but Portland doesn't have a night-in-night-out lights-out shooting threat like Ray Allen. If we cough up another 30+ point game to an opposing SF so be it, but it will probably mean that we hold Allen to around 15-19 points. I'll take it.


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## JuX

Hopefully the Wolves will play a lot better without the jitters. I also hope they will do better on freethrows. I know the team's always in the last in freethrow attempt for a season lately, but will they ever dominate the frontcourt and pull themselves in?


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## sheefo13

I think if Hassell is letting Allen get too many easy looks. We could see Jaric guarding him. Wally is going to have to try and stick with Lewis.. Or else we might see Dupree off the bench quick.


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## Flanders

Yeah, I would also like to see Dupree play in this game. Seattle is a young, lightning quick team that will need some young and athletic legs to defend against them. 

If we can slow down the pace and get KG some baskets down in the paint, I think we'll be good. Kandi needs to stay out of foul trouble, well, because Seattle doesn't have an offensive threat inside the paint, so...yeah, I'm expecting him to have a decent game. 

I expect Wally to play well. As I recall, he had quite a game last season in Seattle. Something like 30/7/8, that statline is off the top of my head, but it was somewhere around there. Wally will probably be booed again so hopefully finds a way to have a repeat performance.

Ray Allen will probably score 40 after a "disgusting" performance of 31 points he had against LA. 

Prediction: Wolves win. Seattle can't match up with the dominance of KG in the paint, despite spectacular shooting from the perimeter.


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## oblivion

I predict a wolves win (102-99).

We need to slow down Ray Allen, and since Casey has been around Ray for years, hopefully he has devised a scheme that will work.


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## G-Force

I have been calling for KG to shoot more for the past year or so. I suppose this is the night that he decides to take 20 shots. Please, not tonight KG, not against my Sonics.


G-Force


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## sheefo13

I am not sure if I will be home for the game. Girls and such will take away from it. But I am likely to watch the game where I will be. The girl cannot control me now!


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## Mr. Hobbes

sheefo13 said:


> I am not sure if I will be home for the game. Girls and such will take away from it. But I am likely to watch the game where I will be. The girl cannot control me now!


MAN POWER

Anyways, I was hoping that McCants would be starter. He was my fav player in college (I also like Kobe and T.O... go figure).


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## moss_is_1

well i wont be here telling u guys since its on tv...but i will do most the others if u need it ...but i cant tommorow as i will be visiting my sister at college so i will watch the game on nba.com with the stattracker thing most likely...lets go 2-0 :cheers:


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## The King of the World

Alright, I'm in here for at least part of this game...depends how long it is til my wife gets home and wants the laptop.

The first thing that I want to say is that I hate Kandi. With a firey passion.


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## The King of the World

I really wish that we could have gotten Evans for (relatively) cheap this summer...dude would help our frontline immensely.


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## The King of the World

Well, we're up 2 after 1Q. We're looking alright, but we got worked pretty good towards the end with KG on the bench. 7 point lead down to 2. For real, someone needs to tell Kandi that he's playing for a contract this year. 3 years in to the Kandiman Era, I'm tired of his "deer in the headlights" look when he has the ball in the post, and his disgusting indifference when he doesn't have the ball. Pathetic.


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## The King of the World

Radmonovic needs to fire whoever it was that advised him not to accept a $42m contract. Seriously.


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## sheefo13

Okay im here for the in game disscussion. I just got to get some food quick.


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## The King of the World

Anyone who doesn't understand my hatred for Kandi hasn't seen him get three 3 second violations in the first half.

Other than Kandi though, we're playing alright. KG needs to start shooting...


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## socco

sheefo13 said:


> Okay im here for the in game disscussion. I just got to get some food quick.


Ooh, get me some, I'm hungry.


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## sheefo13

Wolves are playing pretty good. We should try to cut down on the turnovers and the kandi touches. Only when its early, if he is on... Other than that no.

47-47 halftime. Lewis just hit it at the buzzer.


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## the main event

i agree about KG he needs to start getting to the paint period.
he hardley shoots at all! and having seattl's forwards/centers beat ours at the boards-i don't like that at all! too many turnovers.
scheme for the seconed-kg please!


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## sheefo13

Is half time exciting or what?!?!?!


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## sheefo13

Jaric and Garnett are really leading the squad right now. I am really impressed with how Jaric is playing.


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## The King of the World

So I didn't get to see the Blazers game, but I am really liking what Casey has done with this team. I swear that I have seen Hudson playing some defense tonight! I don't know what to think... :eek8:


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## the main event

if we lose tonight it will be for the lack of rebounding,endless turnovers.
we cut the turnovers in the last 10 minuts or so i hope the rebounding will go up as well


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## the main event

god!!!! the rebounding is horrible!!! their killing us!!!! what the **** damn i'm pissed


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## the main event

hand me a gun please.
i can't beleive how many of.rebounds their getting on our heads,shame we had this game in our hands.


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## The King of the World

Bloody hell...


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## The King of the World

Thank goodness our white guys can shoot!


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## the main event

big three for jaric which is having a great night!
90-89 4:24 to the end.
unless we pick up the rebound like wally did and then passed it to jaric dor the free,were losing.
kg has to be alert i don't know where he is right now.


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## The King of the World

Our ball movement looks to be a lot better than it was at pretty much any point last season. Wally and Marko seem to play fairly well off of each other too.


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## The King of the World

Kg Wants This!


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## the main event

yuuuhuuuu KG? hello??? damn!!! where are you????!
that game could be back again ours and kg is gone right now why is that,why the hell is Olowakndi traveling all the way from mineapolis to israel and back instead of having kg in the paint and basket or to the line why????!
ahhh i hope not to see such chockes any more were losing tonight, it could go an all other way if kg was more active down the 4th Q.


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## the main event

my Prair was answered!!!! kg has awoke ha ha ha yessssss!!!!


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## The King of the World

Overtime...nice stand at the end. Good D by Hassell.


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## sheefo13

OT baby! This is a very good game. We have a solid squad it looks like. Lets home we can pull this one off.


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## the main event

OK! nice act by kg at the end but now he's just has to keep it up!!! we can't fall down right now at OT it's our chance given by the all mighty lord of the forwards!
rules in order to win right now:
keep the ball and clear passing lanes before passing!
don't allow any more offensive rebound to be taken over us!
take our own offensive rebounds!
most important-give the ball to KG IN THE PAINT !!!


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## sheefo13

AH we got the first bucket but its 96 up. I will go bite myt voers for the rest of OT.


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## The King of the World

So long Fortson...maybe we can get a bloody defensive board now.


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## The King of the World

*Feels Kandiman hatred arise*


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## The King of the World

Damn...that's not good.


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## the main event

The King of the World said:


> *Feels Kandiman hatred arise*


FOR SOUR!!


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## sheefo13

No McCants since the 2nd Quarter... Not sure why.


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## the main event

B-a-l-l To K-g!!!


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## The King of the World

****. Ray must've had dollar signs in his eyes when he saw Wally and Kandi closing on him...


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## sheefo13

well that three hurt.




If we have been struggling offensively so bad in that 2nd half, I am not sure why McCants wasn't given a chance... Oh well we are down 5, we need someone to step up.


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## sheefo13

The King of the World said:


> ****. Ray must've had dollar signs in his eyes when he saw Wally and Kandi closing on him...



I think he had more than just Money signs haha.


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## the main event

We lost for sour now and that's a shame i don't understand why the **** isn't it clear to the guys to first got to KG!!! why?!?!?!!!??!?! i hate that,olloakandi should drop dead and casey must say it everytime!-ball to kg!!! ****!


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## sheefo13

I love Wally on defense! He is taking charges like a toll booth!!!!!!


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## the main event

**** hate to be 1-1 man we had this one in our hand that is what pissing the most!!! ruined my saturday


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## The King of the World

Dunk That ****ing Ball!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## sheefo13

Kandi missed it. Game is about over now.


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## oblivion

kandi is brutal. too many 3-second calls etc. Eddie G should be in for crunch time


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## The King of the World

Have I ever mentioned how much I love Olowakandi?


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## sheefo13

I agree. I think we should be seeing more Madsen, McCants, and Griffin. I am not sure my Frahm and Wally AND Jaric are always on the floor toghether. 

I am 2-0 with my prediciton record


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## the main event

let's kill that british ***** i hate him


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## The King of the World

Well, good game. Til overtime. Goodnight fellas, it's been a slice.


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## sheefo13

Yup good night. Nice seeing you guys posting with me here today. Thanks a bunch.


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## socco

The plus side of this loss is that I'm only going to be in a horrible mood for one day.


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## Jonathan Watters

A few thoughts: 

- You want to know why McCants isn't playing, Sheefo? 

Rashad: 1 shot every 1.6 minutes, 25% shooting. KG: 1 shot every 2.9 minutes, 62% shooting. 

We don't need a chucker coming in off of the bench when we have Wally, Jaric, and KG on the team. Troy Hudson is that player at the moment. We need bench players that are willing to support our starters, and Dupree/Frahm are much better at it than McCants. Frahm shoots it, but he gets his shots through the flow of the offense. McCants is just chucking. The guy is one-dimensional and looks very immature out there. It wouldn't surprise me to see him sitting on the bench a lot in the coming weeks. 

- I love, love, love Jaric. He is just all over the court and is the kind of creator that this team has, according to my memory, never had. He can handle, create for others through passing, grab offensive boards, defend 3 positions, force turnovers regularly, take people off the dribble, and hit the outside shot. He is a bit careless with the basketball sometimes, but I think he is going to work out. 

- This team was very, very close to pulling it together tonight. Wally was playing with fire, which I love. His outside shot is going to start falling, and this team will be much, much better when it does. Olo was very close to getting going on several different occasions, but just can't seem to get over the hump. He clearly has the potential to be a difference maker. We need him to be that difference maker. 

- Dupree is a good pickup.


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## the main event

i've got a bad feeling right now that we'll watch another L Sunday to the cassell's clippers.


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## sheefo13

We actually play them tomorrow.


I am not sure why McCants didn't play that much. I would think it is for defensive reasons.


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## Jonathan Watters

Let's try this again...



sheefo13 said:


> I am not sure why McCants didn't play that much. I would think it is for defensive reasons.





> - You want to know why McCants isn't playing, Sheefo?
> 
> Rashad: 1 shot every 1.6 minutes, 25% shooting. KG: 1 shot every 2.9 minutes, 62% shooting.
> 
> We don't need a chucker coming in off of the bench when we have Wally, Jaric, and KG on the team. Troy Hudson is that player at the moment. We need bench players that are willing to support our starters, and Dupree/Frahm are much better at it than McCants. Frahm shoots it, but he gets his shots through the flow of the offense. McCants is just chucking. The guy is one-dimensional and looks very immature out there. It wouldn't surprise me to see him sitting on the bench a lot in the coming weeks.


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## Sir Patchwork

I think McCants didn't play because Wally was doing everything McCants was doing, but doing it better. Putting them on the floor together isn't as smart as pairing one scorer with one defender on the wings. Wally and Hassell was the most efficient wing combo for the Timberwolves tonight. With Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis, you can't afford to have both Wally and McCants in the game at the same time, and Wally was shooting pretty well tonight. So it makes sense.


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## socco

Sir Patchwork said:


> I think McCants didn't play because Wally was doing everything McCants was doing, but doing it better. Putting them on the floor together isn't as smart as pairing one scorer with one defender on the wings. Wally and Hassell was the most efficient wing combo for the Timberwolves tonight. With Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis, you can't afford to have both Wally and McCants in the game at the same time, and Wally was shooting pretty well tonight. So it makes sense.


Shooting pretty well? You kidding? I can't recall the last time he's been this horrible shooting the ball. Time after time after time he'd miss wide open jumpers. That's what he's on the team to do, and tonight he did a *horrible* job of it.


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## G-Force

Wow, whatta game. Jaric put up a very good game and Kg, well, KG was KG. I love that man.

Its tough to lose a game on the road in OT. You guys are playing the Clippers next? Look out - some guy named Sam blitzed the Sonics in Seattle on Wednesday for a ton of points and won the game in the fourth quarter almost single handedly.

G-Force


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## sheefo13

I posted that before I read ur post JW. Ha.

I think Wally is becoming more of a leader. He took 3 charges in that 2nd half, and a huge one in OT with less than a minute left. He was really pushing the team through the game, but his shooting wasn't too good tonight.
I will respect what Casey is doing with McCants right now though. McCants is not moving without the ball, not playing the same defense he did in the first game, and not excatly trying his hardest. But when you allow the Sonics to get a huge lead in the 4th quarter with about 6 minutes left, it means you left Jaric, KG, and Wally on the bench for too long. I am not sure why Madsen or Griffin weren't playing in OT, they are able to finish around the basket and get defenseive rebounds, something Kandi didn't do for us. He at times found himself open from great passes and still managed to get blocked or turn it over. But when I saw him run for the loose ball and trip over another player, I thought he was alright.


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## JuX

From what I seen some from the game, it was a good game. I can't describe more because I only seen some minutes of it but the end of regulation was exciting, especially for Wolves.


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## sheefo13

Well I think Jaric is really proving how good he really is right now. He runs the offense really nicely, his defense is really good too. I am really happy we got him now.


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## JuX

sheefo13 said:


> Well I think Jaric is really proving how good he really is right now. He runs the offense really nicely, his defense is really good too. I am really happy we got him now.


Well, tonight's gonna see which teams get the best out of the trade deal. Cassell vs Jaric. Should be interesting, and no question I want this team to get the best of it.


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## Flanders

Marko Jaric was our best player last night. He hit big shots, made key defensive stops, and didn't make a mistake at all. I'm sold on this guy, he will be the Wolves' future PG, and he'll be a great player. I really like the thought of having him on our team for the next 6 seasons...that is, until his shot isn't falling, but so far, so good.

Troy Hudson played well in the minutes that he was given. But defensively, he is still pretty freakin' bad. KG did not play that well tonight. Perhaps because Danny Fortson's big fat body was guarding him or the fact that they triple teamed him EVERY SINGLE TIME he touched the ball down low. 

Wally missed too many shots down the stretch that either could have gave us the lead or tie the game. He was 0-5 from three point line, and at least 3 of those shots were WIDE OPEN. I miss Fred Hoiberg.

Kandi played okay, until he choked at the end of OT. What is a 7 foot center supposed to do when a dunk is available? DUNK THE BALL! If Kandi would have taken one dribble to the basket, one more step in for the throw down, he could have cut it to one and we could have had at least some hope.

Coach Casey is also at fault for this loss. His decision to keep Kandi in the game during OT was questionable. I would have rather had either Madsen or Griffen during this crucial part of the game. Even if Kandi had been playing well up to the point. Griffen had the ability to knock a three if Jaric or Wally weren't open, and we desperatley needed threes. Casey also had a huge mistake in the 4th quarter when he let the second unit play for eternity and let Seattle get the lead. You don't let your starters rest so they can make comebacks. You are supposed to throw them in the game and maintain a lead or push the lead total up. Resting your starters just to try and fight back from a deficit is a questionable method, hopefully Casey learns not to do that again.

We had many chances to win this game, but we couldn't pull through. This was a game that we could have easily won. Hopefully the Wolves learned something from this loss and use it to take Kandi out of the game....=(


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## Mr. Hobbes

Blame Wally Z for losing this one- he was driving with 20 sec left when he was down 3. He's also a statpadder, tryin to get those extra points in the last 3 seconds. I thought Hassell played great though, as I haven't seen him play much. Nice midrange, and that last foul he had? I thought it was a great defensive play.


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## Sir Patchwork

socco said:


> Shooting pretty well? You kidding? I can't recall the last time he's been this horrible shooting the ball. Time after time after time he'd miss wide open jumpers. That's what he's on the team to do, and tonight he did a *horrible* job of it.


He wasn't shooting the three ball well, but his midrange game was sharp last night. He still hasn't made a three pointer this season, but he has taken 9 of them, and is still shooting 45% from the field on the season. So I guess his 3 point shooting is terrible, but the rest of his game is good right now. He is 14-22 from the field, discounting three pointers.


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## socco

Further proof of how bad Wally is shooting so far this year:

eFG%: 26.1% on jump shoots, 16.7% when it matters. Pathetic. It's only two games, and it will get alot better, but that's still really horrible.


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## JuX

Flanders said:


> Coach Casey is also at fault for this loss. His decision to keep Kandi in the game during OT was questionable. I would have rather had either Madsen or Griffen during this crucial part of the game. Even if Kandi had been playing well up to the point. Griffen had the ability to knock a three if Jaric or Wally weren't open, and we desperatley needed threes. Casey also had a huge mistake in the 4th quarter when he let the second unit play for eternity and let Seattle get the lead. You don't let your starters rest so they can make comebacks. You are supposed to throw them in the game and maintain a lead or push the lead total up. Resting your starters just to try and fight back from a deficit is a questionable method, hopefully Casey learns not to do that again.
> 
> We had many chances to win this game, but we couldn't pull through. This was a game that we could have easily won. Hopefully the Wolves learned something from this loss and use it to take Kandi out of the game....=(


Partly.

Casey's at his first season with this team. It was quite different from the Sonics team he was with for so long. He still needs to learn more about his own players. It was only the 2nd game and it was too new for him to handle whether who should be in the game or not. 

Yeah, Kandi did a pisspoor job of handling that duties up front. 

I say Casey will able to gain his knowledge about Kandi and the situation coming up in this season. Things'll be better as he extends his coaching duties.


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