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Preview: Minnesota Timberwolves at Denver Nuggets, 3/9/13

March 9, 2013 by

Minnesota Timberwolves v Denver NuggetsSetting the stage:

The Timberwolves travel to Denver on Saturday night to take on a division rival in a match-up that pits us against another very hot team.  Denver comes into Saturday night’s game riding a seven game winning streak, which has moved them up into the middle of the pack in the Western Conference playoff picture.  Denver has moved to 41-22 on the season.

Meanwhile, the Wolves are coming off of a two night rest after beating the Wizards on Wednesday night at the Target Center.  While the team had a few days off, they have not gotten much healthier, as both Pekovic and Kirilenko are expected to remain on the sidelines for Saturday’s game.  The team practiced on Friday and news coming out of the session was that Kevin Love was in attendance and taking jump shots.  Please let his return happen soon!  (Thanks @Alex_Cono for a great use of Vine!)

Without Love and a number of others, Ricky Rubio and Derrick Williams remain in the spotlight for the club.  Both have been performing more than admirably over the past few weeks.  While it hasn’t led to many wins, at least it is something for Pups fans to keep an eye on.

Minnesota has played Denver tough this year and has accounted for one of the Nuggets’ rare losses on its home floor (1/3 – 101-97).  The teams also split a pair of games in Minnesota earlier in the season (11/21 & 12/12).  You may recall that it was in the last game against the Nuggets on 1/3 where Kevin Love reinjured his hand and hasn’t been seen since on the court.  The respective seasons of both teams have certainly tailed in different directions since that moment.

Player to watch:

Kenneth Faried – The “Manimal” turned some heads with his performances during All-Star Weekend.  Faried – the 22nd pick of the 2011 draft – has steadily improved his game and truly is a “rising star” in the NBA.  He is averaging 12 ppg and 9.6 rpg for the Nuggets this season in just under 30 mpg.  With all of the injuries to the Wolves front line, it will be important for Derrick Williams to stay out of foul trouble and box Faried out of the paint on both ends of the floor.

Match-up to watch:

Greg Stiemsma vs. JaVale McGee.  What?!  I’m tired of comparing Rubio and (opponent PG) in the preview.  McGee continues to baffle announcers, fans, writers, and probably his teammates and coaching staff.  He is getting less than 20 mpg this season averaging 9.6 ppg and 4.7 rpg.  Should I point out the 20.9 PER and scream for more minutes or just watch this video … and scream for more minutes?

The match-up against Stiemsma should be interesting to say the least.  There is at least a 25% chance these two get tangled up and a double technical foul called, right?  Stiemsma’s play over the past few weeks has not been very strong.  He continues to pick up too many quick fouls and has to check out of games.

Predictions:

The Nuggets are coming off of a big win against the Clippers Thursday night.  With the day off in between, I don’t expect the Wolves to catch them napping.

Final score prediction: Timberwolves 87, Nuggets 102

Three stars of the game predictions:

  1. Andre Iguodala
  2. Kenneth Faried
  3. Danilo Gallinari

Let’s go Wolves!

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Minnesota Timberwolves 81, Miami Heat 97

March 5, 2013 by
AP Photo/Jim Mone

AP Photo/Jim Mone

Game Summary

Well, that was fun.  The Miami Heat visited the Twin Cities and left with another victory, their 15th win in a row this season.  The Timberwolves brought a lot of effort but their shorthanded staff really hurt Monday night and honestly, no one should really be surprised.  Here is how the game transpired.

The Pups were still without Pekovic and Kirilenko – to go along with the ‘regulars’ who have missed significant time this season.  The starting five for the Wolves was the same from Saturday night in Portland and included Rubio, Ridnour, Gelabale, Williams, and Stiemsma.  No surprises from the Heat, who opened up with Mario Chalmers, Dwyane Wade, Udonis Haslem, LeBron James, and Chris Bosh.

The game got off to slow start offensively.  Going into the first timeout of the game, the Heat held an 11-8 lead.  The Wolves turned the ball over twice early, and Rubio missed two free throws.  In essence, not much changed since the road trip.  Meanwhile, it was the Wade and James show on Miami’s end.  They accounted for all 11 points and several highlight moves around the rim.

At the end of the 1st quarter, the Heat held a 22-16 lead.  Chris Bosh also came to life in the latter stages of the quarter, chipping in 5 points and 3 rebounds.  No one on the Wolves had more than 4 points and it was a rather dull opening twelve minutes.

After Miami widened its margin to double digits, the Wolves answered with their own 9-2 run to cut the lead to 4 points.  Derrick Williams hit a few mid-range jumpers while Rubio was active on the defensive end which led to fast break points.  The remainder of the 2nd quarter was played at a nice pace with the home team being able to keep it close.  Unfortunately for the Wolves (and the pad underneath the rim), Rubio missed a tip-in as time expired in the half.  (Rubio subsequently right-crossed the pad and stormed into the locker room.)

At the half, the Heat held a 50-43 advantage.  Here are a few halftime thoughts through my Wolves lens:

  • JJ Barea was 1-7 from the field in the 1st half and completely maddening to watch
  • I wish Rubio’s effort and visible frustration with losing was more contagious with the Pups
  • Mike Miller gets 0 PT in Miami (although I figure he will see some time in the 2nd half)

The Heat opened up the 3rd quarter with a 12-5 run and opened up their biggest lead of the game to that point (14 points).  However, once again the Wolves were able to respond with a 6-0 run of their own.  This included Ricky Rubio pickpocketing Mario Chalmers around half court and scoring on a layup on the other end of the floor.

Ricky Rubio, Derrick Williams and small contributions from Shved and Cunningham, helped keep the Wolves in the game through three quarters.  While the Pups were trailing 69-63, they were right there going into the final twelve minutes, despite the albatross that is, JJ Barea; who was 1-9 from the field through three quarters.

Minnesota continued to scrap with the Heat, which included JJ Barea getting under Ray Allen’s skin by … being JJ Barea.  Allen wasn’t amused at all and some choice words were exchanged.  During a commercial break, the refs decided that Barea’s foul was a Flagrant 2, which made absolutely no sense.  To make matters worse, the refs also gave Adelman one technical and on the next trip down the floor, called Alexey Shved for a leg kick-out after a made three pointer, which nullified the basket and essentially killed the Wolves momentum.

When an actual basketball game resumed, the Heat took command of the game and pulled away from the Wolves.  This included the aforementioned Mike Miller sighting.  With nothing more to say about the game itself, Jim Pete went into a thirty second rant about how infuriating Miller’s time with the Wolves was.  Thank you Jim, thank you!

After Barea was tossed, the Heat closed the game on a 21-11 run and took their 15th straight victory with a 97-81 win at the Target Center.

Keys of the Game

  • Strength – Sounds ridiculous huh?  Well, when you have LeBron James and Dwyane Wade against an undermanned and undersized Wolves team, I’ll just go with “strength” over “talent”.  James and Wade were able to do virtually whatever they wanted, particularly in getting to the paint.
  • Shooting Percentages – This is getting old right?  Heat = 51% FG%, 84% FT%; Wolves = 38% FG%, 67% FT%.
  • Bad JJ Barea – I’m not talking about his trucker/potty mouth either.  1-11 from the field, and no regard for running Adelman’s offense.

Three Stars of the Game

  1. Dwyane Wade – Wade abused Ridnour and the rest of the Pups that tried to guard him.  32 points on 15-23 shooting, to go with 10 assists and 7 rebounds.
  2. LeBron James – For the first time seeing LeBron play (this work week), I have to say he is pretty good.  James finished with 20 & 10.  Despite the 7 turnovers, James dominated around the paint and set the tone early with Wade.
  3. Ricky Rubio – The Unicorn finished with 14 points, 8 assists, 5 rebounds, and 6 steals.  Quite the performance from Ricky on another nationally televised game.

Derrick Williams (and not Mike Miller) gets an honorable mention as DWill had another double-double (25 & 10) for the Wolves and remains the only bright spot on the club beyond Rubio.

Filed Under: Game Recaps Tagged With: , ,

Minnesota Timberwolves 94, Portland Blazers 109

March 4, 2013 by
Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Game Summary

Closing out the western swing, the Timberwolves visited the Rose Garden Saturday night to take on the Trail Blazers.  Minnesota entered the game on a four game losing streak while the Blazers still have hopes of grabbing the bottom seed in the western conference playoffs.

Unfortunately, more changes were needed in the Wolves starting lineup Saturday night as both Kirilenko and Pekovic were scratched from the game.  The Pups starting lineup consisted of – Rubio, Ridnour, Gelabale, Williams, and Stiemsma.  The Blazers opened up with Damian Lillard, Wesley Matthews, Nicolas Batum, LaMarcus Aldridge, and JJ Hickson.

Going into the first timeout / stoppage of play, the Blazers had built a 7 point lead, 17-10.  Greg Stiemsma was already on the bench with two quick fouls.  With Pekovic’s injury it was a given that Chris Johnson would get minutes Saturday night, but Stiemsma’s inability to stay on the court and avoid foul trouble has become a bit nauseating for Wolves fan (or at least one of them…).

The Wolves defense struggled to do anything to stop the Blazers in the 1st quarter, as the home team held a 31-19 lead after the first twelve minutes.  Story of the quarter is vastly similar to the past few weeks (months?) for the Pups: 9-24 on FG’s for 38% and 0-4 from 3PT range, while the Blazers were 12-23 from the field for 52% and 3-5 from 3PT range.

The 2nd quarter was pretty slow going, or at least it felt that way.  The Pups outscored the Blazers 25-20 in the quarter but trailed by six points, 51-45.  While the Wolves were able to cut into the lead, no one stood out on the team beyond Derrick Williams (broken record alert).  The Blazers cooled off in the 2nd quarter and that felt like the crux of why the Wolves were back in the game more than anything else.

Here are a few halftime thoughts through my Wolves lens:

  • I’m just going to assume that Ricky Rubio is going to be working on his jumper all offseason and will be a solid offensive threat next year.  (Fantasy league stud in 13/14)
  • An underrated move from several weeks ago was the Blazers acquisition of Eric Maynor.
  • Chris Johnson needs more PT.  Please!

The game more or less fell apart for the undermanned Wolves in the second half.  The Blazers built a 17 point lead in the 3rd quarter at several points.  Without Pekovic, the Wolves had no answer for JJ Hickson, who hit the double-double threshold early and kept going.

I’m not sure if Alexey Shved has hit another wall or not, but Adelman is not giving him heavy minutes and it really can’t, or at least shouldn’t be, due to what Ridnour and Barea are doing on the court for the team.  At the end of the 3rd quarter, the Blazers held an 83-71 lead.

The Wolves made several very small runs but never truly threatened to take over the game in the 4th quarter.  Luke Ridnour caught fire early in the quarter, but it felt more like a nice run by an individual player vs. the start of a big move that would help catapult the team to take over the game.  Sure enough, Terry Stotts would call the appropriate timeouts and get his team back in gear.

The Blazers outscored the Wolves 58-50 in the second half and pulled out the 109-94 victory.  The win completed the season sweep for the Blazers over the Wolves, which wound up being the fifth time in six seasons that Portland has been able to claim this feat.  Given all of the missing cogs in the Wolves machine, this really should not have been a surprise for anyone watching the game on NBA TV.

While Rubio flirted with another triple-double (12, 9, and 9), he continues to turn the ball over too much and opposing teams are laying off of him on the offensive end, daring him to shoot jumpers.  Unfortunately for us Wolves fans, that plan is working, as Rubio continues to struggle to with his shot.

Rather than harping on that particular part of the game, I found myself asking what would be the better scenario for the Wolves moving forward more often than not while watching the second half.  Is it moving forward with Kevin Love, Derrick Williams, both, or the supplemental players that the team can put together by moving one or the other in the future?  I need to think about this a lot more before putting down my thoughts on paper.

Keys of the Game

  • Talent / Health – I am absolutely copping out on this one, as this claim could be made for most of the season.  The Pups were missing way too much talent on the floor in Saturday’s game at the Rose Garden.
  • Shooting – The Wolves shot under 40% again for the game and only made 1-12 3PT’s.  While the team continues to show an ability to get to the FT line, they missed 11 FT’s, going 25-36 from the charity stripe.

Three Stars of the Game

  1. JJ Hickson – Hickson finished with 18 and 16 on the evening and torched Stiemsma and CJ throughout the evening.
  2. Damian Lillard – Newsflash, Lillard is good, putting up 24, 6, and 4 for the future ROY, and a game high +22 in the +/- category.
  3. Derrick Williams – Williams missed his season high by one point but still put up a 23 and 8 for the Wolves and was probably the lone bright spot for the team.
Filed Under: Game Recaps Tagged With: , , , ,

Preview: Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Miami Heat, 3/4/13

March 4, 2013 by
Photo Credit: REUTERS

Photo Credit: REUTERS

Setting the stage:

The hottest team in the league just so happens to be the best team in the league and the defending NBA champions; and they happen to be on their way to Minneapolis to take on our reeling Wolves.  Monday’s game will be broadcast on NBA TV for the masses to see, as the Heat come into the game with a 14 game winning streak.  The Wolves are the complete antithesis of the Heat right now, having lost 5 in a row and 21 of 25.

The Heat are putting distance between themselves and the rest of the Eastern Conference, building a 7+ game advantage over the rest of the conference over the past few weeks.  They look like the clear favorites to reach (and win) the NBA Finals.  LeBron is playing in another stratosphere this season and has shown no signs of slowing down.

The Heat took down the Wolves 103-92 in Miami on 12/18 and the game never felt as close as the final score would indicate.  The Wolves were nearly at full strength in that encounter and as you are likely well aware, that isn’t the case right now.  It is still to be determined whether or not Kirilenko will be ready to go Monday night, but the remaining Pups that missed Saturday’s game in Portland will all likely miss Monday’s game as well.

Derrick Williams has been one of the few bright spots over the past few weeks for the Timberwolves.  He will be asked to do a little bit of everything and much more in order for the Wolves to even remain competitive against the Heat.  It will also be interesting to see who he matches up with on the defensive end of the floor given the current starting lineup for the Heat.

Player to watch:

LeBron James – I don’t think we need to go very much further than just mentioning his name at this point, do we?  He’s only averaging 27 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists this season, so sit back and enjoy the greatest professional basketball player on the planet Monday night.  If AK47 isn’t ready to go, and even if he is, you might see a very special performance in the first three quarters of play.

Match-up to watch:

Luke Ridnour vs. Dwyane Wade.  I’m getting tired of picking Rubio and Pekovic for this section and who knows who else will be suiting up for the Wolves by the time tip-off comes.  Luke has been shooting the ball better as of late, but has the unenviable task of matching up against Wade on Monday night.  This could get ugly fast.

Predictions:

Even with the Heat playing Sunday against the Knicks and the Wolves having an off day, Minnesota is probably going to be about +1100 in Vegas.  This is likely to be a long night for Wolves fans.  My advice: try to enjoy watching the Heat.

Final score prediction: Twolves 84, Heat 98

Three stars of the game predictions:

  1. LeBron James
  2. Dwyane Wade
  3. Ricky Rubio

Let’s go Wolves!

Filed Under: Game Previews Tagged With: , , ,

Minnesota Timberwolves 83, Phoenix Suns 84

February 27, 2013 by

DerrickGame Summary

The Timberwolves kicked off a three game road trip on Tuesday night in Phoenix.  Both teams came into the game well under .500 and fans are already thinking about what is the next step to bring each franchise back to the playoffs.  I think it is safe to say that the Pups are significantly closer to those aspirations, but Tuesday night’s performance didn’t help the minds (or hearts) of either fan base.  Here is how the night transpired.

There were no changes to the Wolves starting lineup – Rubio, Ridnour, Kirilenko, Williams, and Pekovic.  The Suns opened up with Goran Dragic, Jared Dudley, PJ Tucker, Luis Scola, and Marcin Gortat.

In the early stages of the game, the Wolves and Suns both struggled to make baskets and the Wolves managed to turn the ball over a few too many times.  Going into the first timeout/break in the game the Suns held a 10-6 lead through 6+ minutes.  Dr. James Naismith likely rolled over in his grave given the performance for the entire 12 minutes of the 1st quarter.  At the end of the 1st, the Suns held a 16-15 lead.

The Suns put together a 10-0 run but it could have, and should have been, much worse.  Through 18 minutes of the game, the Wolves had 21 points.  Seriously.  They were shooting sub-30%, turning the ball over, and being outrebounded 25-17 going into the TV timeout with under 6 minutes to go in the half.

Rather than belabor this any further, the Suns held a 47-33 lead at halftime.  Here are a few halftime thoughts through my Wolves lens:

  • Mentioned this on Twitter, but if the Wolves continue to lose more often than not, does that make Adelman more or less likely to return next season?
  • Derrick Williams was the only bright spot, with 13 & 6 in the 1st half
  • Finally – 33 points?  Seriously?

Coming out to start the 3rd quarter, Alexey Shved was in the starting lineup replacing Andrei Kirilenko.  Unfortunately, this wasn’t Adelman trying to tweak the lineup to cause a spark, it was due to another injury.  AK47 suffered a calf strain and was deemed out for the rest of the game.  We’ll see the severity of the injury in the coming days and if Andrei will miss any more time.

The 3rd quarter itself was more of the same from the Wolves and Suns.  The Pups won the quarter 18-11 (ugh) and were only down 58-51 going into the final frame.  Derrick Williams remained the only Pup worth talking about, but he was also shooting 3-10 from the FT line through three quarters.  That said, he already posted a double-double, with 18 & 10 through three.

After starting out very slow in the 4th quarter, the Wolves went on a 7-0 run to cut the Suns lead to 6 points.  Pekovic started to come to life in the 4th quarter as well, quietly moving into double-double range.  The Wolves were met with a healthy dose of Wesley Johnson, who hit several three pointers, as well as a few baskets in/around the paint.

In the final two minutes, the Wolves were able to take a 76-75 lead.  After Rubio hit one of two FT’s, the Suns were able to tie the game up with a running layup by Gortat.  Rubio then proceeded to air-ball a mid-range jumper to put the game into overtime, which is exactly what the NBA and its fans didn’t need from these two teams.

The overtime period was more of the same from both teams; bad shooting, a lack of scoring, and turnovers.  Ricky Rubio looked completely gassed and Adelman pulled him for the final few minutes.  With time running down, Alexey Shved drove to the rim and missed a layup that would have given the Wolves the lead (and likely win).  The Suns escape with an 84-83 win after outscoring (or surviving) the Wolves 7-6 in OT.

Keys of the Game

  • Shooting – While the Suns were equally as bad, the Wolves shot 31-90 FG’s, including 5-19 from 3PT range and were 16-25 from the FT line.  Dear lord.
  • Bench play – Aside from JJ Barea – and you should probably account for all of his negatives here too – the Suns bench was widely superior Tuesday night, with Wes Johnson, Markieff Morris, and Jermaine O’Neal all with double digit points.

Three Stars of the Game

  1. Jermaine O’Neal – Seriously, I mean who else does this go to?  A double-double from a 60 year old NBA player deserves to be recognized.  My only other option was “(Leave blank)”.
  2. Derrick Williams – 21 & 12 and another relatively solid outing for DWill.
  3. Wesley Johnson – Arguably the worst 1st round pick in the Timberwolves history, Johnson managed to have a career night with 14 points and 9 rebounds off the Suns bench.  Of course he did.
Filed Under: Game Recaps Tagged With: , ,

Preview: Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Phoenix Suns, 2/26/13

February 26, 2013 by

wesjohnson_michaelbeasley

Setting the stage:

Oh what could have been with Mr. Beasley and Mr. Johnson on the Timberwolves, right folks?  (Crickets)

The Timberwolves travel to Phoenix to take on the Suns Tuesday night for the second time this season.  Back on 12/29, the Wolves handed the Suns a 111-107 loss, with the former Pups doing virtually nothing on their return the Target Center.  Beasley shot a woeful 1-8 from the field in 10 minutes and Johnson received another DNP-CD.

Since taking over for Alvin Gentry, it looks like Lindsey Hunter has come to realize just how bad these two players are.  Hunter took over on January 18th and has given both players a few opportunities to play heavier minutes.  In Phoenix’s most recent games, both players have been given limited opportunity to see the floor.

The Suns come into the game losers of three straight, which has dropped their season record to 18-39.  If this game were being played in April, we would be talking about who is tanking more unfortunately.  The Wolves come into Tuesday’s game off of a gut-wrenching loss to the Warriors on Sunday afternoon.  The Pups had every opportunity to win the game but found a way to lose, 100-99, with Luke Ridnour missing a floating jumper around the rim as the buzzer sounded.  That loss put the team at 1-2 since the All Star break and dropped their record to 20-33 on the season.  Despite the loss, the optimist in me would like to point out the overall performances of Ricky Rubio and Derrick Williams.  While both failed to make one or two plays down the stretch (and they were crucial) the duo put together very solid performances and are the main reasons worth tracking how or what the Wolves do the rest of the way this season.

Player to watch:

Jared Dudley – Timberwolves fans have been eyeing up Dudley for some time now, as a player that would be a great cog in the machine here in Minnesota.  While Jared has been inconsistent in February, Timberwolves fans might want to brace themselves for a breakout performance.  Dudley put up an 18 point, 8 rebound, 5 assist game back in late December and we should probably expect more of the same, given the lack of size the Wolves have to match up against Jared on the defensive end.

Match-up to watch:

Nikola Pekovic vs. Marcin Gortat.  The big men in the paint are the premiere match-up for the evening, as both men are quite the load in the paint.  Pekovic dominated the earlier meeting, putting up a 28 & 11 performance, and holding Gortat to 9 & 3.  Pekovic has had a nice month of February if you throw out the performance this past Friday night in OKC.  Even with that clunker, he’s averaged 15.8 ppg and 9.5 rpg over the course of the month.

Predictions:

Nothing excites me about this Suns team and I almost wish that I wasn’t responsible for covering this game.  OK, I do wish that actually.  Given the way the Wolves have been playing since the break, and even though it isn’t producing wins, I expect them to pull this one out on the road.

Final score prediction: Twolves 106, Suns 99

Three stars of the game predictions:

  1. Ricky Rubio
  2. Derrick Williams
  3. Jared Dudley

Let’s go Wolves!

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Timberwolves VOTW: Doug West Highlights

February 25, 2013 by

Continuing our throwback theme thanks to the power of the Internet and Youtube, here we find a nice highlight reel and collection of one of the greatest Wolves of all time, Doug West. This seems like an appropriate time to remind you of one of the first articles I wrote for Timberpups was my first and second all-time teams which included Doug West. As you can see in this video, Doug had tremendous athletic ability back in the day.

West was an original Pup, drafted in the 2nd round of the team’s first NBA draft in 1989. While it took him two years to adjust to the NBA and “get it”, he went on to have four solid seasons with the team between’91/’92 through 94/’95. After several down seasons, he was traded to the Vancouver Grizzlies for Anthony Peeler before the trading deadline on 2/18/98.

Enjoy the highlights!

Filed Under: Video of the Week Tagged With:
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