Yayyy

Will Hardy for MVP, keeping THT on the bench in crunch time to cut down on dumb TOs

GAME NOTES:

Firstly, welcome back Walker Kessler! Although he didn’t start, he was the most impactful big man today.

Secondly, kind of a wonky starting lineup today, and it surprisingly didn’t do too bad. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t good, but it wasn’t terrible. Keyonte, Dunn, Tech, Collins, Yurtseven.

Now let’s talk about tonight’s MVP, Collin Sexton. He started off terribly, going 1-6 his first 6 shots. Had bad turnovers, and wasn’t able to get anything going the first half. It wasn’t until about 2 minutes left in the 3rd quarter that he started to get going. He hit the closest buzzer beating layup I’ve ever seen to end the quarter, and was our entire offense the last 6 minutes of the fourth quarter. Our offense stalled when he didn’t have the ball, which is probably the first time I’ve ever said that about Sexton. Unreal shotmaking and great decision making for Sexton on both ends. He finished with 16 points, 6 assists, only 2 turnovers, 5-13 shooting, 3-8 from 3. That second half was electric from him.

Our second most impactful player is Walker Kessler. He came off the bench and only played 21 minutes, and had 11 points, 11 rebounds (6 offensive!!!0, and 2 blocks. 5 fouls in those 21 minutes isn’t too good, but again, it wasn’t until the start of the fourth quarter where Kessler started to get going. He had 9 of his 11 points in the fourth, and the players (Olynyk, THT, Keyonte, Sexton) were all looking for him on drives in the dunkers spot. Welcome back Sheriff!

John Collins had a pretty good game as well. He kind of looked clunky to start the game offensively, and when he got out of his own head and played naturally he played pretty good. 5-11 shooting, 9 rebounds, 1 block in 23 minutes. He did have 3 turnovers which I would’ve loved to have seen cleaned up, and he only had 3 points in the second half, but that’s about it for his negatives.

Keyonte George only made 3 pointers tonight, going 4-9 from beyond the arc. 0-4 from inside, which is something I’d love to see improvement on. He was missing layups and floaters, but at least his 3 was falling. He had one of his worst games turnover-wise tonight, with 5 turnovers. He finished with 15 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, all in 26 minutes. He made some good passes, but also looked like he struggled reading passing lanes, which led to more turnovers than he usually has. He looks like he has great timing on his lobs, which I’m sure Kessler & John Collins will appreciate.

Kris Dunn got the start, and I thought he looked really good. He plays off of Keyonte really well, and shot 4-7 from the field, had 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, but 2 turnovers to cap off an 8 point night. He played the least amount of minutes on the team tonight, and I don’t know why. In my eyes he is still the better option out of him and THT.

I was surprised Omer Yurtseven got the start instead of Olynyk, but I think it worked out well. It allowed Kessler & Yurtseven to play with other stretch bigs in Collins and Olynyk. Omer caught a nasty lob from Keyonte which was a big highlight tonight. He finished with 6 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 blocks. 3-6 shooting, 0-3 from the arc. He did a good job defensively on Jonas Valanciunas, which is all you can ask.

Fontecchio got the start today over Agbaji, which is something I’ve been wanting. I feel like he played really well, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see him continue to start over Agbaji. 10 points, 2-7 from 3, 1-1 from inside the arc, 3 rebounds, 2 turnovers, 1 block in 25 minutes. He was pretty quiet the second half, but I liked how he wasn’t hesitant to let it fly from deep.

Kelly Olynyk played really well paired with Kessler. 13 points, 4-6 shooting, 3-3 from deep, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 3 turnovers in 24 minutes. Led the team in +/- with +10. He had a big alley oop pass to Kessler which was a beauty. I love seeing the bigs play off of each other. One unique thing about Olynyk that I think is an extremely underrated skillset, is that he is able to be the PnR ball handler and make good reads. It is hard to stop when you have two 6’11"+ guys running a PnR.

THT didn’t look bad tonight. He had a decent second half, and benefited form Sexton going off. THT shot the least amount of shots on the team tonight with just 5 shots, going 2-5, 1-3 from 3. 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 turnovers to go with 5 points.

Agbaji has impressed me the last two games by being more aggressive on offense. 3-8 shooting, 2-7 from 3, 9 points, 3 assists, 3 steals, 1 rebound tonight. I don’t think he impacted Brandon Ingram too much, but his impact was more noticeable on a team level, if that makes sense. I think he elevates the team defensively when he is on the floor. He was active in passing lanes, and hunting for the ball.

Such a big win, highlighted by that insane comeback in the fourth quarter.

5-11! We snap our 4 game losing skid!

Feels like a fog cleared over the valley. I missed this feeling.

Much better effort out of that group tonight. Keyonte is our future, happy Kessler is back, Yurt deserves minutes.

Let’s get another W on Monday!

Part of me wants to be happy that we won, part of me would be happy if we didn’t win another game this season and got the number 1 pick in the draft

It’s a long season, I wish our fans wouldn’t just assume this team sucks because with Kessler and the group moving the ball they can compete. I understand the last week was tough but there’s signs that this season could have a turnaround especially with Kessler’s added defense.

Shout-out to Sexton and Simone tonight, completely dogged on them but they showed up late

Respect Will Hardy. I think he’s a great coach