Those confident threes started the game off right for the Wolves. Hopefully he keeps making shots and defending hard like he has been.

#KAT IS BACK

The lob to towns with Gobert down in the paint is such an insane play, I hope we see that more.

He might never figure out the offensive fouls, but I couldn’t imagine he’d stay cold for too long. He’s too good of a shooter, and gets too many good looks off of dribble handoffs and as a trailer in semi-transition.

They’ve experimented with it a little, but I wouldn’t mind them doing even more with him working off ball and coming off screens. KAT is at his best in quick shoot-or-drive situations, and getting his defender on the move makes it harder to defend that situation and also mitigates the speed advantage these smaller defenders have that he gets guarded by these days.

So for example, suppose he’s coming off an off-ball screen at the left wing with his defender closing fast, KAT now has potentially 3 viable offensive scoring maneuvers he can make. If they’re late, it’s the jumper. If they’re closing like a bat out of hell, he reverses directions, and goes strong right hand as they overrun the closeout. If they’re on time but closing too conservatively, a strong first step to his left hand before they wall up. You put a smaller guy, and they have to navigate the off-ball screen perfectly to wall up in time and get a good enough contest. A bigger defender, and trying to defend off-ball on the perimeter is a world they aren’t used to.