The Wolves are in Oakland today to face the Golden State Warriors. It goes without saying that it will be a tough matchup. There was a time this season when the Warriors looked vulnerable, but that time has passed. Golden State has won six of their last eight games—getting Steph Curry off the injury report has been huge. Additionally, the Warriors will get Draymond Green back tonight after an 11-game absence.
However, the Wolves got some good injury news of their own. Robert Covington will likely play after missing the Wolves’ loss to the Blazers with a sore right knee. Covington said Monday that he had a good rehab session and is feeling ready to go. We’ll see before tipoff what coach Tom Thibodeau decides.
Whatever ends up happening, Covington won’t play if he doesn’t feel like he’s ready to be at his best for the Wolves.
“If you’re going to go out and play you got to play, if you feel like you can’t you can’t,” he said. “If you’re going to be out there you have to be out there. There’s nothing that can be half, you got to really be engaged.”
Numbers Game
Coaches in the NBA vary a lot in how much credence they give to statistics, but most fall in the camp of believing that advanced stats are helpful tools despite being an incomplete picture of what a player brings to the team. There’s one stat in particular that Thibodeau particularly likes, something called net plus/minus per 48. It takes into account what players do on the floor compared to when they’re off of it over the course of 48 minutes. While Thibodeau wasn’t going to reveal the formula, he did say that it generally gives different results than more readily-available stats. That statistic also loves Covington and Dario Saric.
“I wouldn’t base it on one game, but I think over a period of time, I’ve used it for years…I’ve found that over time it has been accurate,” said Thibodeau. “It’s not the only tool, you know after watching a game who’s doing their job and who’s not. All those things factor in but I think it’s pretty obvious to everyone when you look at the impact that Robert and Dario have had on the team. It’s changed things for us.”
In the era of advanced stats, it’s always interesting to hear about head coaches’ philosophies on how those numbers should best be utilized.
Dario’s Role
Thibodeau often talks about Saric being a winner. That’s especially true of Saric’s approach to his minutes. On a different team Saric could be starting and playing a lot more than he does here but playing behind Taj Gibson is what gives the Wolves the best chance to win. Saric respects Gibson’s game immensely and is fully aware of that fact.
“Sometimes you get the opportunity to play more sometimes you get the opportunity to play less, but right now I’m happy and trying to give 100 percent,” he said. “At this time, it doesn’t really matter about my role and everything, I just really want to help the team and try to make [the] playoffs.”
Everything is coming together for the Wolves with Covington and Saric, and the most important thing to Saric is that continued progress.
“You figure out how to play with these guys and everything starts to fit in piece like a puzzle. I hope we will start to win some games in a row. I hope that starts tonight.”
Quick hits:
- Jerryd Bayless is progressing well in his rehab. While it will be hard for him to get minutes even when healthy, anything is possible. Thibodeau has said many times that he likes Bayless’ game, and his return will give Thibodeau another option to deploy bringing the ball up. Fingers crossed this doesn’t happen, but an injury at any time could cause the Wolves to look to him.
- The Wolves are 13-13 and hold the No. 10 seed in the Western Conference. The No. 9 Sacramento Kings play the Bulls tonight and no matter what happens in that game, a win versus the Warriors would give the Wolves a chance to climb the standings when they play the Kings on Wednesday. The Wolves are one full game out of the No. 8 seed and 4.5 games back from the No. 1 seed. Welcome to the wild west.