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VOTW – Twolves Rising Stars

May 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment

While this week’s “Video of the Week” may get your blood boiling if you think back to this era for too long, it should also be a fond memory of some of the few good ole days in the Pups history. Ahmad Rashad hosted ‘Rising Stars’ and in this edition, they focused on the up and coming Twolves Rising Stars.

With Stephon Marbury joining KG and Googs, things looked to be on the up and up and the promise land would be reached in only a matter of time. We know what happened not too far down the road, but rather than focus on the negative, let’s remember the good days of this version of the big three.

I tend to forget how good Gugliotta was while he was playing for the Wolves. He was good for a solid 17 & 8 or so every night during his tenure. KG was making his meteoric rise and the pairing with Marbury injected a level of hope the franchise had never sniffed prior.

Enjoy this week’s VOTW – including interviews from Flip and McHale and awkward celebrations from Googs and the team.

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Timberwolves VOTW – Christian Laettner Highlights

April 28, 2013 by Leave a Comment

 

I cannot tell a lie; while I have been a fan of the Timberwolves since their inception, the drafting of Christian Laettner put my fandom over the edge and drove me to diehard status. Yes, that is a true story and please, do not judge me.   This week’s VOTW takes us back to Laettner’s NBA career with some mixed beats in the background for your listening pleasure. The majority of the highlights here are from his early career in Minnesota and Atlanta.

Laettner will always be remembered as one of the greatest NCAA athletes of all time. His NBA career will likely be remembered something like this: not Shaq or Zo, taken 3rd by the Wolves, never really panned out*, became a pain in the ass to the franchise and was subsequently moved like most other Wolves’ first round picks.

You may have noticed the asterisk in the paragraph above. While I believe this is the perception for Christian, it isn’t necessarily reality. No, he was not Shaq or Zo, but he certainly didn’t embarrass himself (on the court) in the NBA. He was good for a near double-double every night and while that didn’t lead to wins for the Wolves, it wasn’t really his fault.

For those that don’t recall, Laettner was traded to the Hawks for the expiring contracts of Spud Webb and Andrew Lang. That isn’t what you would necessarily call ‘optimizing your trade assets’. After playing for the Hawks, Laettner went on to become much more of a (small) role player for Detroit, Washington, and Miami. Christian retired the year before the Heat won their first championship.

Hope you enjoy this week’s VOTW …

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Minnesota Timberwolves 108 – San Antonio Spurs 95

April 19, 2013 by
Photo Credit: Yahoo! Sports

Photo Credit: Yahoo! Sports

Game Summary

The Pups had a chance to close the season on a winning note Wednesday night in San Antonio after losing their last home game at Target Center to Utah on Monday.  The Spurs came into Wednesday’s game a little banged up and it shouldn’t have been too surprising to see them give their regulars limited roles in the game.

Nikola Pekovic sat out Wednesday’s game again, finishing the season having missed 20 of the 82 games, allowing legitimate questions about his durability given his forthcoming free agency.  That said, taking out Love’s 18 game season, Big Pek led the team in scoring and rebounding, with 16.3 and 8.8 per game respectively.

The Timberwolves opened the game with Rubio, Ridnour, Kirilenko, Williams, and Stiemsma.  The Spurs countered with Tony Parker, Danny Green, Kawhi Leonard, Tim Duncan, and Matt Bonner.  Minnesota actually got off to a pretty strong start, jumping out to an 11-4 lead.  About halfway through the 1st quarter, the Wolves held a 20-11, with Tim Duncan looking like the only Spur to have brought a live body to the court on the evening.  Conversely, each Pup starter was on the board with at least one basket, led by Rubio and Williams.

In typical Spurs fashion, they continued to chip away into the lead over the next few minutes, tying the game at 24 with about one minute to go.  Rubio and Budinger hit a pair of three points in the final minute or so to give the Wolves a 30-24 lead going into the 2nd quarter.

JJ Barea started off the 2nd quarter with two missed shots, further supporting my plea to exile him.  Seconds later, Chris Johnson – with surprising early minutes – threw down a tremendous dunk.  The early minutes of the quarter were entertaining until the Spurs went on a 12-2 run to take a 50-46 lead with a few minutes left in the half.  The Wolves tried to answer, but Tony Parker took over in the final minute of the half.  At halftime, Spurs led 61-56.

Here are a couple of halftime thoughts through my Wolves lens:

  • League Pass Mobile was, surprise-surprise, bumpy at best on Wednesday.  I had to give up the Benz-Peterson combo to listen to Sean Elliott halfway through the 1st quarter.  This wasn’t a good thing.
  • Derrick Williams had a nice half of basketball, and I’m hoping the team can maximize his value this summer – in whatever capacity is best for this team’s future.

Return trip from Italy the night before will lead to some quick thoughts the rest of the way, as I was in and out of consciousness for much of the second half, excluding the final few minutes when I wedged toothpicks between my eyelids to keep them open to see the end of the season.  (That last part of the story is not true.)

After starting hot in the 3rd quarter, the Wolves went cold in the final few minutes.  However, the Spurs did nothing to take advantage of this situation, as they also struggled to make a shot in the final minutes as well.  At the end of the 3rd quarter, the Wolves held an 80-76 lead.

In the 4th quarter, the Wolves were able to build a double digit lead as Duncan and Parker remained on the bench for the Spurs.  Despite what felt like a slow, final few minutes, the Wolves were never really threatened and pulled out their first victory in San Antonio since January 2004, snapping a 16 game losing streak.  (Ouch.)

Our Pups finished the season with 31 victories, the most since ‘06/’07 when they had 32 victories under Dwane Casey and Randy Wittman but certainly not something to brag about.  A season filled with so much promise ended without the playoffs in the team’s immediate future, largely due to the team being ravaged by injury.  The franchise goes into another offseason with more questions than answers:

  • Will Rick Adelman return?
  • Will Taylor resign David Kahn?
  • What will happen with Nikola Pekovic’s impending free agency?
  • Can the team afford to keep Chase Budinger?
  • Can the front office find a SG in free agency or the draft?
  • The NBA draft is always a question mark with this franchise …
  • Can we please get rid of JJ Barea?
  • Assuming Love is healthy, should the Wolves move DWill?

Keys of the Game

  • Three point shooting – One more time, the Wolves put together a nice showing when they shoot the ball well, specifically from beyond the arc Wednesday night.  Minnesota hit 12 three pointers (?!) in San Antonio on 41% shooting, including 3 makes from both Rubio and Budinger.
  • Active hands – Combining steals and turnovers here as they go hand in hand in many cases.  The Wolves held an 11-5 advantage over the Spurs in steals and forced 17 turnovers for the home team.  Noteworthy stat: Greg Stiemsma had 5 steals and 1 block.

Three Stars of the Game

  1. Derrick Williams – Solid performance from DWill to close out his season – 21 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists.
  2. Greg Stiemsma – Very active game from Stiemsma, finishing with 12 points, 9 rebounds, and as referenced above, 5 steals and 1 block.  Greg played over 30 minutes and was 6-8 from the floor for one of his best performances of the season.
  3. Tim Duncan – You have to give the old man a lot of credit; 17 points and 14 rebounds in 27 minutes and Duncan continues to perform at a high level.  Unbelievable.
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Pups Playoffs Predictions

April 18, 2013 by

Who do you have in your NBA playoff bracket?

Who do you have in your NBA playoff bracket?


 
Well, the NBA regular season has come to a close and the Timberwolves will not be participating in the six month process known as the NBA playoffs.  No fear, here are our Pups playoffs predictions anyway.  For each series I’ll provide a little bit of rationale for the pick and display all sorts of biases.  It is better to be upfront about this, no?  Without further ado…

Western Conference – First Round
#1 Oklahoma City Thunder vs. #8 Houston Rockets
The Thunder will roll over Kevin McHale and James Harden’s Rockets.  The Rockets lack of defense, and frankly, coaching, will be on display throughout the five games.  I suspect Harden will have a monster series but it will do very little in terms of victories.
Prediction: Thunder in 5

#4 Los Angeles Clippers vs. #5 Memphis Grizzlies
Small upset alert?  I really can’t stand the Clippers and the sooner they are out of the playoffs, the better.  This Memphis team is tough and seems to be a good matchup to go against Donald Sterling’s club.  The Clippers will remain loveable losers.
Prediction: Grizzlies in 6

#3 Denver Nuggets vs. #6 Golden State Warriors
The most exciting series of the first round and I’m not sure it is really close (unless you can stand the Clippers).  I’m pushing this series to seven games because I want it to go seven games.
Prediction: Nuggets in 7

#2 San Antonio Spurs vs. #7 Los Angeles Lakers
If Kobe were healthy, this would be an easy pick for me in taking the Lakers.  I think this series will actually be pretty close and highly competitive.  However, you can’t take the Lakers without Kobe, right?
Prediction: Spurs in 6

Eastern Conference – First Round
#1 Miami Heat vs. #8 Milwaukee Bucks
The Heat will destroy the Bucks in four games.  None of them will be close.  They will make a mockery of the first round and the studios will be talking about “can the Heat win out in the playoffs” by halftime of the second game of this series.
Prediction: Heat in 4

#4 Brooklyn Nets vs. #5 Chicago Bulls
While I called the 4-5 matchup in the West a small upset, I don’t think it would be one if when the Bulls take out the Nets.  This should be an enjoyable series to watch, albeit low scoring.  Prokhorov will have to wait another year and find the means of spending millions more to get the Nets over in the playoffs.
Prediction: Bulls in 6

#3 Indianapolis Pacers vs. #6 Atlanta Hawks
The series destined for NBA TV for as long as needed.  The Pacers are very good.  The Hawks still haven’t won me over whatsoever.  This equates to the Pacers rolling here.
Prediction: Pacers in 5

#2 New York Knicks vs. #7 Boston Celtics
Upset alert!  I want this to happen for so many reasons and on so many levels.  Can KG and Pierce make one last run (it won’t go much further) and knock out Carmelo and the Knicks.  Please, let this happen!
Prediction: Celtics in 6

Western Conference – Second Round
#1 Oklahoma City Thunder vs. #5 Memphis Grizzlies
This will be a hard fought series for the Thunder, but I can’t see them losing 4 games to the Grizzlies with home court advantage.
Prediction: Thunder in 6

#2 San Antonio Spurs vs. #3 Denver Nuggets
I’m still not as sold on this Nuggets team as many and despite what they accomplished this season, particularly at home.  However, I just watched the Spurs lose to the Wolves and even though some might want to put an asterisk on that loss, I can’t nor won’t.  The Spurs will be a little more tired / banged up from their respective prior series and Denver will capitalize.
Prediction: Nuggets in 7

Eastern Conference – Second Round
#1 Miami Heat vs. #5 Chicago Bulls
The Heat will continue to roll through the Eastern Conference by taking care of the Bulls rather easily.  Again, the Heat are very good, but I do think they will lose game 4 in Chicago.
Prediction: Heat in 5

#3 Indiana Pacers vs. #7 Boston Celtics
Similarly, I think the Pacers use this series to show the country that they are worth a little bit of buzz and attention and will roll through the Celtics.  If the Knicks take care of the Celtics in the first round, I still see the Pacers moving through to the Conference Finals rather easily.
Prediction: Pacers in 5

NBA Conference Finals
#1 Oklahoma City Thunder vs. #3 Denver Nuggets
The prior two rounds catch up to the Nuggets rather quickly here and I see the Thunder moving along pretty quickly to the Finals.
Prediction: Thunder in 5

#1 Miami Heat vs. #3 Indiana Pacers
I love this matchup, but I still can’t make a case for the Pacers to take this to a seven game series.  In fact, I don’t think it goes six.
Prediction: Heat in 5

NBA Finals
#1 Miami Heat vs. #1 Oklahoma City Thunder
Miami will have home court due to their 66 regular season wins vs. OKC’s 60 win season.  If OKC kept James Harden I would consider this a great series and would probably put the Thunder on top for my own preference.  I mentioned this at the beginning of the season, I hate when NBA championship contenders trade a key cog for the future and that’s what OKC did.  I know the future for OKC is now better/clearer, it doesn’t get them a ring this year.
Prediction: The Miami Heat become repeating NBA Champions in five games!

Who do you like in this year’s playoffs?  Can anyone knock off the Heat?  Let us know in the comments below.

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VOTW – Felton Spencer Meets Mr. Perfect

April 7, 2013 by

“With the sixth pick of the 1990 NBA Draft, the Minnesota Timberwolves select … Felton Spencer, Senior, Louisville University” … or something similar to that from Commissioner Stern. Hilarity ensued. This week’s VOTW takes us back to Spencer’s career highlight with the Timberwolves, filming a WWE clip with Mr. Perfect, Curt Hennig. I’m not sure which is worse, Spencer’s acting or Hennig’s form on his jump shot.

For those of you who don’t remember, or never knew, Spencer had an anticlimactic career. The Timberwolves front office managed to ruin any chance he had for success when they went ahead and took Luc Longley with the seventh pick of the 1991 draft. (The franchise has always had a penchant for success on draft night.) Spencer had two decent years in Utah before rupturing his Achilles during the ’94-’95 season. His career never recovered from there as he became an end of the rotation big man for several teams until he retired in 2002.

Enjoy the early 90’s cheesiness of this week’s VOTW!

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Minnesota Timberwolves 93 – Toronto Raptors 95

April 5, 2013 by

Rick Adelman - Minnesota Timberwolves head coach

1,000 career victories?!
(Photo credit: AP)


 
Game Summary

Friday night’s game at the Target Center was a chance for fans in the Twin Cities to see a small piece of history, as Rick Adelman was sitting on a coaching career win total of 999.  With the Raptors in town and the way the Wolves have been playing over the past two weeks, things looked promising to see Adelman get to 1K.

Minnesota’s starting lineup had no surprises in it; Rubio, Ridnour, Kirilenko, Williams, and Pekovic.  The Raptors opened up the game with Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, Rudy Gay, Amir Johnson, and Jonas Valanciunas.

Friday’s game provided Pups fans to see Dwane Casey’s return to the Target Center sidelines.  Casey didn’t get a fair shake as head coach here in Minnesota, but he also hasn’t necessarily proven anyone wrong with his track with the Raptors.  To be fair, between head coaching gigs in Minnesota and Toronto, Casey was an assistant on the Dallas Mavericks, including their championship team in 2011.

With that out of the way, here is a rundown of Friday night’s events.  After falling behind in the very early minutes of the 1st quarter, the Wolves quickly came alive and built a 21-13 lead.  With the exception of some poor moves from DWill around the paint, the Wolves’ starters looked strong, led by Kirilenko and Pekovic down low in the paint.  The Raptors tried to exploit DeMar DeRozan’s advantages over Ridnour at the SG position, but DeMar wound up missing 4 of his first 7 shots in the quarter.

Going into the 2nd quarter, the Wolves held a 24-18 lead.  Adelman sent out the reserves to start the quarter, going with Barea, Shved, Budinger, Cunningham, and Stiemsma.  While they looked lackluster on the offensive end, they were able to limit the damage on the defensive side of the floor.  Going into the first timeout of the quarter, the Wolves had only lost one point off of their lead, holding a 30-25 advantage.

Unfortunately, Adelman didn’t go back to any of his starters coming out of the timeout.  Alexey Shved looks beaten up.  Adding insult to injury, he is not getting any calls on the offensive end.  He and JJ Barea launched 4 three pointers over the course of the next few minutes and hit exactly 0 of them.  The worst part of this second unit is the lack of any ability in the second string big men to create their own shot in the post.  That leaves the guards doing the vast majority of the heavy lifting and leaves Shved and Barea hoisting up long jumpers time and time again.

At halftime, the Wolves held a 48-46 lead.  Here are a couple of halftime thoughts through my Wolves lens:

  • The Wolves were off from three point range in the first half (1-8) and hopefully that part of the game plan is removed for the second half.
  • 15 assists for the Wolves on 19 made baskets, 10 of which came from Rubio and Ridnour.

After the Raptors took a 50-48 lead in the first few minutes of the 3rd quarter, the light bulb seemed to go off for the Wolves starters.  They went on a 13-0 run to take a 61-50 lead and forced Casey to take a timeout (which was probably a series or two late).  However, the Raptors answered with their own 12-3 run to cut it back to a two point game.

Ricky Rubio seemed to will the team through the 3rd quarter, pushing the right buttons at the right time and setting up his teammates for easy baskets.  This included a bucket for Chase Budinger at the end of the quarter to untie the game.  With the last second basket, the Wolves took a 73-71 lead into the final quarter.  To be honest, the Wolves did not look good after the 13-0 run early in the quarter.  The Raptors shot 50% from the field in the 3rd quarter and had too many easy baskets.

The teams went back and forth in the 4th quarter with neither team capable of pulling away from the other.  DeMar DeRozan entered a little bit of a hot streak, with tremendous moves off the dribble for a few baskets.  Adelman noticed this as well and moved AK47 over to guard the hot hand and made an immediate impact on the defensive end, leading to a missed basket from DeMar.

The final minutes of the quarter were incredibly frustrating for the Wolves and fans alike.  The team missed a number of free throws, couldn’t grab the necessary defensive rebounds and lost a very winnable game at home against a poor Raptors team.  For those that yearn for draft positioning, this loss was for you.

In case you missed it, in the final seconds, the Wolves played solid defense on Rudy Gay, forcing a missed mid-range jumper.  From there, Rubio sped down the court to draw a foul.  Unfortunately, Ricky made the first but missed the second.  The Wolves were forced to foul but there was one-tenth of a second left in the game.  Amir Johnson made the first attempt and intentionally missed the second, allowing time to expire and the Raptor to pull out the 95-93 victory at Target Center.

Keys of the Game

  • Free throws – Amazing how I always cover games that come down to free throws.  This was going to be the #1 key to the game no matter who was the victor.  The Pups got to the line 40 times, while the Raptors only shot 16 FT’s all game.  However, the Wolves shot themselves in the foot by missing 10 of those attempts, including several in the final minutes.
  • Wing play – For the first time in a while, at least from my own perspective, the Wolves were dominated by the opposing team’s wings.  DeRozan and Gay both went off tonight and the Wolves didn’t (or couldn’t) do enough to contain them.

Three Stars of the Game

  1. Rudy Gay – I know Big Al hates this one – 26 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals.  Gay also shot just over 50% from the field.
  2. Nikola Pekovic – Another big game from Pek, who finished with 24 points and 8 rebounds; including 12-16 from the FT line.
  3. DeMar DeRozan – DeRozan matched Gay’s 12-23 from the field and put in 2 points and grabbed 4 rebounds.  He also led the charge in the 4th quarter.
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Minnesota Timberwolves 110 – Boston Celtics 100

April 1, 2013 by
Was he hurt or was it personal reasons? Pups fans won't shed a tear. (Photo credit: Getty Images)

Was he hurt or was it personal reasons? Pups fans won’t shed a tear either way. (Photo credit: Getty Images)

Game Summary

The Boston Celtics visited Target Center Monday night, following a bad loss on Sunday against the Knicks in New York. Unfortunately for Wolves fans at the game, Kevin Garnett once again missed his return to Minnesota due to an injury.  The Celtics came into the game as the seven seed in the Eastern Conference.  The Wolves came into Monday’s game off of a Saturday night loss against Memphis, moving the team’s record to 26-46 on the season.

Par for the course when watching the Wolves, there were a few injuries to account for in the starting lineup on Monday night.  However, they weren’t driven by the Pups for once!  The Wolves opened up with Rubio, Ridnour, Kirilenko, Williams and Pekovic.  The Celtics played without much of their ‘normal’ starting lineup, beginning the game with Avery Bradley, Courtney Lee, Jeff Green, Brandon Bass, and Chris Wilcox.  Aside from Rondo and KG, the Celtics were also without Paul Pierce, who injured his leg on Sunday against the Knicks but was deemed out prior to the game for “personal reasons”.

The game had a nice flow early on with the Wolves and Celtics battling back and forth, particularly in the paint.  Pekovic and Kirilenko drew several early fouls on the Celtics’ big men.  At the same time, Rubio was aggressive looking for his shot and setting up others.  The Celtics countered with fast starts from Avery Bradley and Jeff Green.  Going into the first stoppage of play with under five minutes left in the 1st quarter, the Pups held a 17-13 lead.

At the end of the 1st quarter, the Wolves held a 27-25 lead.  Pekovic was dominant in the opening frame, finishing with 15 points on 5-6 shooting in the first twelve minutes.  More importantly, he had already drawn 2 fouls on Wilcox and 3 on Shavlik Randolph.  Overall, a very nice quarter from the Pups showing the ability to get to the free throw line and run Adelman’s offense.

The Wolves built a 42-36 lead going into a timeout with more than six minutes gone in the 2nd quarter.  Alexey Shved had two baskets in the paint and looked like he was a lot fresher; he only played ~17 minutes in the two games Friday and Saturday night.  Granted the Celtics were down their lead options and playing the second half of a back to back, but the Wolves were looking very good in the 1st half.

After the Celtics tied the game at 45, the Wolves went on a mini-run, taking a 57-52 lead into the locker room at the half.  Here are a couple of halftime thoughts through my Wolves lens:

  • The last week or so of games has to make you yearn for “what could have been” with an even remotely healthy lineup for the better portion of the season.
  • Very nice half of basketball from Pekovic (21 points) and Kirilenko (8 & 8).
  • If the Celtics can’t get healthy (quickly) they are going to be in a lot of trouble trying to avoid the 8 seed and the Miami Heat.

The Wolves tried to break the game open in the 3rd quarter, building a double digit lead halfway through the quarter.  After an AK47 steal and dunk to increase the lead to 12 points, Doc Rivers had seen enough and had to burn a timeout.  It was essentially more of the same from the same three players on the Pups – Pekovic, AK, and Rubio.  At the same time, the Wolves were doing a nice job shutting down the Celtics’ wings, holding Courtney Lee and Jeff Green to minimal contributions.

Boston made a small run towards the end of the 3rd quarter to cut the lead to six points going into the final frame at Target Center.  The Wolves were a little lucky it wasn’t closer as they missed a few buckets in the final few minutes, while Boston also missed a three pointer at the buzzer.  At the end of three, Minnesota led 84-78.

Someone call the league office and ask them to restart the NBA season with a healthy Wolves roster.  The Pups got off to a 12-4 run to start the 4th quarter to increase their lead back to double digits.  From there, it was only a matter of whether or not the Wolves would play fundamental basketball to hold on to the win and that is exactly what they were able to do.  Minnesota outscored Boston in all four quarters Monday night, including 26-22 in the 4th, to win 110-100.

Keys of the Game

  • Fast break points – The Wolves won the fast break battle 23-9.  Without their new big three, the Celtics tried to slow down the game to a screeching halt, but the Wolves wanted nothing to do with that tempo and moved the ball up the court.
  • Free throws – The Wolves were 25-27 (?!?!) from the charity stripe tonight, outpacing the Celtics 9-14 effort from the line.
  • Turnovers – Watching this game and seeing the final lines, you almost wonder how the Wolves didn’t win by an even larger margin.  Minnesota only turned the ball over 8 times Monday night, while Boston had 17.

Three Stars of the Game

  1. Nikola Pekovic – Another huge performance from Pekovic, with 29 points on 9-15 shooting from the field and 11-11 from the FT line.  Pekovic set the tone early and dominated the Celtics big men in the paint, putting them both in foul trouble early.
  2. Andrei Kirilenko – Nice effort from AK47 Monday night, with 17 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 steals.
  3. Dante Cunningham – Ham had another nice shooting night on the Target Center floor, going 7-12 from the field for 19 points.  He also threw in 5 rebounds and 2 steals.
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