I didn't get to see much of this game but the stats worry me some. The numbers suggest that Ayton did most of his damage against Vonleh and that we were outmatched when Towns (+19) was on the court. Is that what others saw?
I didn't see that. I missed the 1st quarter but saw from the 2nd on. Ayton and Towns were going back and forth. It didn't appear to me that Ayton was doing anything because he had an easy matchup.
I'm not sure why I put that post in this thread instead of the Minnesota game thread (where I thought I put it). Anyway, when I didn't get any action on my comment I checked out the Minnesota game day thread on RGM and they seemed to see it the way I did.
At least one Wolves poster asserted that Ayton did all his damage against Vonleh and others mentioned that Towns dominated the game when he was on the court. Like I said, I didn't see any of the first half but it is hard to explain Towns minutes/level of success and us winning while Karl was a +19 in just 18 minutes of game time and Vonleh was a -23 in his 14 minutes. I'd much rather believe that Ayton (+5 in a game decided by 5 points) dominated the game and his opponent when he was on the court but the numbers really do suggest something else.
I missed the 1st quarter but from what I saw of the game, Ayton didn't play against KAT much in the 2nd quarter because Towns wasn't on the court when I was watching. Towns played more in the 2nd half when Ayton was basically done, which helped his +/- numbers. I can't speak to the 1st quarter at all but I didn't see anyone dominate Ayton or Ayton dominate anyone. I'm fairly certain that KAT logged at least 4-5 minutes in the 3rd after Ayton had gone to the bench for the night. I don't recall the score but that would help Towns' plus/minus since he was going against Diallo and Kaminsky then.
When they were on the court together in the 2nd quarter, KAT was running around on the perimeter like a wing and wasn't guarded by Ayton, who was in the paint area playing against either Dieng or Vonleh, I can't remember which one it was but neither did much of anything. I don't blame Coach for having Ayton stay inside at that point because Saric shouldn't be guarding the rim while Ayton tries to play Towns on the perimeter. KAT will get his out there, regardless of who is guarding him, so just keep Ayton inside for boards and discouraging drives.
I watched from about the halfway point in the 2nd quarter up until 3 or so minutes were left and the game was basically over. That was some ugly basketball at the end with Harper, Diallo, and Tariq Owens sharing the floor at the end. I couldn't take it any longer after Owens launched his 2nd bad, and contested, deep shot. Okobo looked good in the 4th up until then, shame he got stuck with those scrubs because you could tell why they were G-Leaguers. Never thought Okobo would standout compared to G-League guys but he did at the end there.
