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Minnesota Timberwolves 111, Oklahoma City Thunder 127

February 24, 2013 by

RickyrubioGame Summary

Coming off of a win Wednesday night at home against Philadelphia, the Timberwolves traveled to Oklahoma City to take on a league powerhouse in the Thunder.  As an added bonus, the Wolves were back on national television to kickoff ESPN’s Friday night doubleheader.  Unfortunately for those that don’t follow the Wolves closely, they are seeing half of a finished product.  Friday night was not much different as the Wolves found themselves down early and were never able to recover.

The Thunder got off to a hot start, going 8-11 from the field to start the game.  This led to an early 18-11 lead over the Wolves going into the first timeout of the game.  Ricky Rubio picked up two early fouls and was already on the bench prior to the timeout.  At the end of the 1st quarter, the Thunder held a ten point lead (33-23) and the game was not looking very promising for the Pups.

Aside from Rubio’s foul trouble, Derrick Williams finished the quarter 0-5 from the field, missing two 3 pointers and a few layups at the rim.  Russell Westbrook led the Thunder to the fast start, finishing the quarter with 11 points, 4 assists, and 3 rebounds.  If you were looking for a silver lining, Kevin Durant was struggling from the field, only 1-4 from the field and finishing the quarter with 6 points.

In the 2nd quarter the Pups received several strong performances from their second unit, including; JJ Barea, Cunningham, Stiemsma, and Shved.  While the defensive effort didn’t improve much, at least the team was able to compete offensively and keep the game in striking distance.  At the end of the half, the Wolves cut the Thunder lead to 5 points and then Luke Ridnour pulled another bonehead play with the clock ticking down, fouling Russell Westbrook on a 3 pointer.  Westbrook hit all three free throws to give the Thunder a 66-58 lead going into the half.

Here are several halftime thoughts through my Wolves lens:

  • The Wolves second unit were the only reason they were in the game as the starters were shooting a woeful 7-25 from the field
  • Derrick Williams was the main ‘contributor’ to these shooting problems, throwing up a 1-8 from the field, including a number of blown layups
  • The ESPN crew ripped apart the moves David Kahn has made over the past few years during their halftime show – and I found myself agreeing with them in many cases, which just made it that much more annoying

The 3rd quarter could easily be described as a quarter of runs.  The Thunder increased their lead to 17 points, the Wolves cut it back to 8, and then the Thunder responded to increase the lead back to 17 points to close the quarter.  It was not a defensive struggle in Oklahoma City Friday night, as the home team held a 100-83 lead going into the final frame.  Unfortunately for the Pups, Kevin Durant got hot in the 3rd quarter, leading to a strong feeling of doubt that the Wolves had much of a chance of making a comeback.

The 4th quarter mentally felt like extreme “gah-bage” time, even though you could easily make an argument that the Wolves were technically in the game.  A quick kudos to Ricky Rubio who continued to run all over the court in an effort to pick up a quick steal, create a turnover, etc.  Outside of this effort, there really wasn’t too much to talk about – evidenced by the lack of game insight the ESPN crew were providing at the same time.  The final score of Friday’s game was a 127-111 victory for the Thunder.  The Wolves actually never held an advantage in the game.

Keys of the Game

  • Talent – This probably sounds pompous, but the Wolves just do not have the star power that the Thunder have.  Durant and Westbrook simply brought it on Friday night and took full advantage of the depleted Wolves.
  • Shutting down Pek – Coming off of a huge performance Wednesday night, Pekovic couldn’t get anything established for himself vs. Kendrick Perkins, and even to a lesser extent, against Hasheem Thabeet.  In 22 minutes, Pek had 5 points on 1-4 shooting with 2 rebounds.
  • The shooter’s touch – As a team, the Thunder were absolutely lights-out Friday night: 58% from the field, 64% from 3PT range, and a perfect 22-22 from the FT line.

Three Stars of the Game

  1. Russell Westbrook – Westbrook aided in getting Rubio into early foul trouble and took over the game from that point.  He finished with 37 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists.
  2. Kevin Durant – Despite the slow 1st half, Durant finished the game strong to reach “his numbers” – 27 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists of his own.
  3. Kevin Martin – This could have gone to Rubio, but with the “blowout” loss, it didn’t feel right to give this to a Pup.  Martin was extremely efficient coming off the bench with 17 points on 7-11 FG’s.
Filed Under: Game Recaps Tagged With: , ,

Preview: Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Golden State Warriors, 2/24/13

February 24, 2013 by

Photo Credit: Adidas

Photo Credit: Adidas

Our Pups return home after a high scoring affair Friday night against the OKC Thunder to take on the vastly improved Golden State Warriors Sunday afternoon. While the Wolves season has fallen apart, the Warriors are meeting or exceeding expectations to this point in the season. Minnesota comes into Sunday’s game with a 20-32 record, while the Warriors come into the game off of a big, overtime victory Friday night against San Antonio, improving their record to 32-23 on the year.

Before Friday’s game, the Warriors announced that Andrew Bogut would miss another indefinite amount of games due to problems with his back. This has to be frustrating for Warriors fans as the team has climbed to the six seed in the conference largely without their starting center. One must wonder “what could have been” if Bogut was able to stay healthy, particularly in an effort to avoid the Spurs and/or Thunder in the first round of the playoffs. That said, I don’t think the Warriors will get many pity points from the Timberwolves or their fans given what has transpired this season for our Pups.

These two teams have not met since November, when the Warriors handed the Wolves two losses over the span of eight days. Golden State took the first match-up 106-98 at the Target Center and then the second match-up in the Bay area 96-85.

Finally, in case you missed it, the Warriors launched a new jersey in Friday night’s game on ESPN – the Spurs-Warriors game followed the Wolves-Thunder match-up on ESPN’s doubleheader. The jersey is more t-shirt vs. jersey and is certainly an interesting mix into the lineup. The cynic in me suggests that this type of “jersey” makes it an easier transition for the NBA to start putting brand logos and advertisements on their apparel.

Player to watch:
David Lee – Lee had two solid performances against the Wolves in those November meetings, putting up 18 points and 13 rebounds in Minnesota and 17 & 8 in the following match-up. Without Kevin Love again, it will be important for Minnesota’s frontcourt to keep Lee off the boards as much as possible and to stay in front of him in the isolation sets, not allowing him to fly by the defender and/or having a second defender backing up whoever is matching up against Lee directly.

Match-up to watch:
Ricky Rubio vs. Stephen Curry. The could-have-been teammates are the primetime match-up in Sunday afternoon’s meeting. About the only positive topic the Wolves have going right now is the on-going improvement in Rubio’s game as he continues to build/gain confidence in his knee. Curry is having a career year this season, coming into the game averaging a career best 21.1 ppg, 6.6 apg, and 4.0 rpg. He also has a 19.8 PER, which is good for fifth highest in the league among PG’s.

Predictions:
The Warriors are coming off of a solid win against the Spurs Friday night, so there is a chance of a letdown here at the Target Center. However, I won’t go on record predicting one.
Final score prediction: Twolves 104, Warriors 112

Three stars of the game predictions:
1. Harrison Barnes
2. David Lee
3. Nikola Pekovic

Lets go Wolves!

Filed Under: Game Previews Tagged With: , , , ,

Preview: Minnesota Timberwolves @ Oklahoma City Thunder, 2/22/13

February 22, 2013 by
Photo Credit: USA Basketball

Photo Credit: USA Basketball

The Timberwolves travel to Oklahoma City on Friday night to take on the defending Western Conference champion Thunder.  Minnesota comes into the game off of a victory against Philadelphia Wednesday night to move their record to 20-31 on the season.  The Thunder come into Friday’s game off a loss to the Rockets in Houston the same night, dropping their record to 39-15.

While these two teams are heading in very different directions this season, they tend to match-up well against one another and always seem to be enjoyable games to watch.  That wasn’t necessarily the case when Minnesota traveled to OKC on 1/9, as they were blown out of the building, 106-84.  This could have been a product of the Thunder returning the favor for their loss at the Target Center on 12/20.

A quick note about the trade deadline from Thursday – the Wolves made exactly zero moves to their roster and I have to say that I am not disappointed.  Derrick Williams can only help his trade value from now until the 2013 draft.  The team isn’t good enough to push Ridnour or Barea off to someone else for a short term rental (since we aren’t making the playoffs this season).  Finally, a semi-kudos to the team for not making a salary dump move to save a few dollars in Glen Taylor’s wallet.  Net/net, this team will be very active again this summer and has a full stock of assets to leverage.

While the Wolves stood pat, the Thunder made two minor moves that probably make them a bit stronger for the playoffs.  In separate trades, they sent Eric Maynor to the Blazers for a trade exception and acquired Ronnie Brewer from the Knicks for a 2nd round pick.  (I wonder if James Harden’s explosion Wednesday night aided their desire to make this move and get a little bigger in the back court.)

Oklahoma City remains a powerhouse in the Western Conference and have high aspirations come playoff time.  Led by perennial all-stars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, the team will look to work its way through the Western Conference and once again challenge for the NBA Championship.  Anything less is likely to be seen as a disappointment to fans.

With that mindset, this preview has been done in conjunction with the ‘Welcome to Loud City’ blog on SB Nation.  Here are the questions that we posed to J.A. Sherman from the team’s blog.  He passed along a few Wolves-related questions as well, and you can find those questions and our answers on their site.

Here’s were my questions for Trey …

Thunder Question #1 for Trey:

As a fan of the Thunder, can you please explain the mindset of “championship or bust” to us Wolves fans, who have been continuously tortured since 1989?  Do these expectations make the games easier or harder to watch regularly?  Would you consider anything less than a conference championship a failure? 

Trey:

As a Thunder fan, it’s certainly nice to have “championship or bust expectations.” It’s like being the Yankees of the NBA and the team has only been in the city since 2008. It makes the game easier to watch because you’re always dissecting the team’s play, no matter the opponent. Even if they’re on top for most of the game, it’s still fun to see what Durant and Westbrook are going to do next. Of course there are blowouts and nobody likes watching 48 minutes of a 20-point game, but it’s worth the price for 50-win seasons and Finals appearances.

This season, anything less than a conference championship would have to be considered a disappointment. I doubt there is anybody in the organization that feels any other way. After taking the step last year with their WCF win over San Antonio, it’s hard to imagine the Thunder would be satisfied with anything less. They’ve got the same two stars and although they sent Harden to Houston, Kevin Martin is still a good enough scorer to give them substantial firepower off the bench.  

 Thunder Question #2 for Trey:

Is there a particular weakness for the Thunder and/or do you fear that there might be something in the current construction of the team that could be exploited down the stretch and in the playoffs?  Coming off Harden’s performance Wednesday, does an elite wing worry you?

Trey:

I think one thing that showed up against Houston and also against the Heat before the All-Star Game is the fact Oklahoma City has problems running their offense while down late in games. I think it becomes too much Durant and Westbrook one-on-one rather than finding a good shot every possession. People tend to blame Westbrook because he’s the point guard. However, it’s just as much Durant’s fault. They both tend to force shots when the team is trailing late. Could a team in the West exploit this? I don’t think so because I’m not sure the Spurs or Clippers can develop big leads against the Thunder and force them into those one-on-one situations.

Well, if you consider LeBron James a wing, which I do, then I would be extremely worried. Harden and LeBron are obviously different players with much different arsenals and Harden is great, but in a seven-game series I’m not worried about him taking over for four victories. However, LeBron has dominated the Thunder this season. They don’t have an answer for him right now and unless newly acquired Ronnie Brewer can give him problems, the Heat could be looking at a second straight Finals victory over the Thunder.

 Thunder Question #3 for Trey:

Rather than ask you a question about Durant or Westbrook, let’s go deep into the rotation.  What are your thoughts on Hasheem Thabeet?  Do you think he has a long term future in the league?  Is there a light bulb there that might go off?  Finally, how would you grade his (limited) performance thus far?  

Trey:

I’m not sure Hasheem Thabeet has a long-term home in Oklahoma City, but he is putting up better numbers than last year’s backup center Nazr Mohammed. He seems to be a popular player in the locker room and usually give Scott Brooks quality minutes, but it’s hard to see him developing into much more than a 10-12 minutes kind of player.

I would give him a B so far this season. Like I said, he’s outplayed Mohammed’s production from a year ago, but with his size and frame you would think he could have more of an impact every night. Unless the Thunder moves Kendrick Perkins for somebody with more of an offensive game in the future, I can’t see the Thunder hanging on to Thabeet. This is already his fourth team since being drafted No. 2 overall by the Grizzlies in 2009 and I doubt it’s his last.

 

To see our Pups-related Q&A, please click here.

We hope you enjoyed the preview for this Friday’s match-up between the Pups and the Thunder.  Again, you can read more from J.A. at the Welcome to Loud City blog or follow them on Twitter.  As always, you can read more from John on Twitter.

Filed Under: Game Previews Tagged With: , , , , ,

Preview: Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Philadelphia 76ers, 2/20/13

February 20, 2013 by
Photo Credit: Associated Press

Photo Credit: Associated Press

Setting the stage:

We are back from All Star Weekend and the Timberwolves open up at home on Wednesday night against the Philadelphia 76ers.  Both teams played their last game this past Wednesday and both teams lost going into the break.  The Sixers come into the game with a record of 22-29 and have fallen 4 games behind the Milwaukee Bucks for the 8th seed in the East.  The team is led by the trio of first time All Star Jrue Holiday, Thaddeus Young, and Evan Turner.  However, the team will be without Young on Wednesday night as he remains out with an injury to his hamstring.

The Wolves return to the court off of the extended break and look to get a little healthier.  Andrei Kirilenko should be ready to return to action Wednesday night after missing the past five games with a quad injury.  The layoff hopefully provided others a few extra days to relax and recharge the battery.  The Pups handled the Sixers in Philly in early December without Rubio and a weak performance from Kevin Love.  The team will look to do the same despite the different faces that will be in the rotation on their home floor.

For today’s preview, I have reached out to another local friend who is a lifetime sufferer of being a Sixers fan, Jeff Agress.  Jeff and I used to spend too many Friday happy hours together debating the NBA and creating top ten lists – current players, all time players, women in the bar … you get the idea.  Similar to our Friday night previews, I asked for Jeff’s perspective on a few key storylines regarding this year’s Sixers squad.

Sixers Question #1 for Jeff:

Please describe your frustration level with Andrew Bynum and what are your expectations from him moving forward – this season and beyond?

Jeff:

The Sixers were literally one game away from the Eastern Conference Finals a year ago but the overall consensus was that they were an overachieving team that got a lucky break with the Derrick Rose injury and maxed out their potential.   Both the fans and the new Sixer ownership recognized that a core led by Andre Iguodala, Elton Brand, and Lou Williams can only go so far.  As we know, over the summer they overhauled the team, highlighted by the mega-trade where the Sixers sent Iguodala, Nic Vucovic (having a solid season in Orlando), Moe Harkless, and a protected 1st round pick away in return for Andrew Bynum and Jason Richardson.  To say Philly nation, self included, was pumped about acquiring Bynum would be severely understating it.  Ownership opened the introductory press conference to the fans and ran a marketing campaign around him.  For the first time since Allen Iverson was traded, the Sixers mattered again. The Sixers envisioned a team with Bynum manning the middle, demanding double teams and surrounded with sharpshooters (signing Nick Young and trading for Dorrel Wright in addition to Richardson).  Add in the core youngsters Jrue Holiday, Evan Turner, and Thad Young and expectations in Philly were sky high for all of us.

Fast forward six months, and Bynum barely practiced with the team, let alone having played in one.  There is obviously a lot of frustration with the injury which can mainly be attributed to the mysteriousness of it all; the setbacks, the ever changing time frame, and the weekly updates where Bynum himself gives conflicting answers from “there is a lot of pain” and “I feel great” in the same interview.   Needless to say, hostility is in the air as we all get the sense that the front office is being dishonest in an attempt to keep ticket sales up.  With management mostly hush-hush, we are left to ask questions like “what doctor cleared this trade” and “when exactly did he get injured”.  After gaining a lot of praise last year for their accomplishments, ownership and Doug Collins are slowly seeing that disappear.

Bynum is now on the verge of becoming a free agent at season’s end.  I know for me, I’d like to see him play in at least play a handful of games and show the Sixers he is not damaged goods – he’ll certainly need to do that for other potential suitors.  Even if he doesn’t play one game this season he will likely be offered a max contract by someone.  Talent-wise he is a top 2 or 3 center in the league, but he has never played more than 65 games in a season, has serious knee issues, and a 5 year max contract is too risky a proposition.  The Sixers have some serious soul searching to do, for sure.

Sixers Question #2 for Jeff:

Jrue Holiday has made ‘the jump’ this season and just played in his first All Star Game.  What would you consider to be the one or two main reasons that caused this jump?  Separately, what aspect of his game still needs the most improvement?

Jeff:

Jrue Holiday, still only 22 years old, has been the ONLY bright spot this season for the team.  They beat the November 1st deadline and extended Jrue to a 4 year, $41 million deal (plus incentives).  Though Jrue has been somewhat inconsistent through his first 3 seasons, it was a move many Sixer fans backed wholeheartedly considering his upside and his encouraging play vs. top competition in the past two playoffs.

Moving on from Iguodala and Brand was an addition by subtraction in regards to Holiday’s growth of a player and he has taken full advantage of being the focal point of the offense.  He has become much more assertive leading the team in general, is an underrated on ball defender, and has been more aggressive penetrating the lane for his own shot or locating open shooters on the wing.

Personally, I am pleasantly surprised that he is one of the top assist men in the NBA.  Jrue is still somewhat careless at times with the ball which leads to his high turnover rate and for whatever reason he doesn’t create enough contact when penetrating the lane. Cutting down on his TO’s and increasing his FT attempts will be vital if he wants to take his game to the next level.

Sixers Question #3 for Jeff:

We have talked through a number of trade scenarios in the past that largely revolve around Derrick Williams and Evan Turner.  Is there anything on the Wolves roster that is appealing enough to take him off your hands?

Jeff:

Interestingly, the Sixers are another year or so away from having to make another major decision: commit to Evan Turner or not.  He has improved this season, no question.  Always a very good rebounder and ball handler, Turner improved his mid-range jumper and added a corner three to his repertoire, but he has yet to add true consistency to his game.  From my perspective, Turner would be a better fit coming off the bench in a 6th man role, but I don’t feel he’d embrace it enough.  They are at the cross-roads and all signs are pointing to Evan Turner getting put on the trade block with their lack of many tradable assets, although I don’t see it happening until the offseason at the earliest.  Who knows, maybe the Wolves can be a potential suitor?

The Sixers are not athletic on the wings and are without an interior game until Bynum shows up.  I can’t see the Wolves entertaining a deal including Pekovic, so a trade between these two teams would need to center on Turner and Williams.  Straight up would be tough for a Sixer fan to stomach, but if another player is added to the deal, maybe Villanova star Dante Cunningham or Greg Stiemsma, I would be more open to considering it.  If there is a way to get the Wolves to take Spencer Hawes or Kwame Brown off our hands and add in another player such as Luke Ridnour, then I can see making something happen that makes sense.  How does Turner/Hawes for Williams/Cunningham/Ridnour sound?

John’s response to the trade proposal above:

There are certain parameters that I think could make this work.  The deal above wouldn’t be acceptable to me, but if we replace Cunningham with Stiemsma, there might be something there, particularly due to the play of Chris Johnson.  Looking ahead to this summer, this would also be a nice backup move for the Wolves and protection against losing Pekovic or even a sign and trade with Portland that swaps Pekovic for Batum.

I want to thank Jeff for answering a few questions on Sixers and providing some perspective on the Pups opponent.  You can follow Jeff on Twitter.

Player to watch:

Nikola Pekovic – If the Pups have any chance of getting back on track in the second half of the season, it is going to be because of Pekovic and the team’s commitment to getting him the ball in the paint.  While Spencer Hawes is quietly having a solid season for Philadelphia, I fully expect him to be eaten up by Pekovic Wednesday night.

Match-up to watch:

Ricky Rubio vs. Jrue Holiday.  As discussed above, Holiday is having a breakout season.  Without Rubio in the lineup earlier this season, Jrue put up a 13-9 game against the Wolves backcourt.  I would expect similar numbers against Ricky and company Wednesday.  Rubio has been molding into form over the past month or so and is coming off a highlight filled BBVA Rising Stars game.  He continues to look more and more like last year’s version and it will be great to see that trend continue through the second half of the season.

Predictions:

Coming off of the extended break and knowing that a handful of tough games against Western Conference opponents are forthcoming, I expect the Wolves to be fresh for this one and play with confidence, given the results from earlier this season in Philly.

Final score prediction: Minnesota Timberwolves 106, Philadelphia 76ers 98

Three stars of the game predictions:

  1. Nikola Pekovic
  2. Alexey Shved
  3. Evan Turner

Let’s go Wolves!

Filed Under: Game Previews Tagged With: , ,

Timberwolves VOTW: Kevin Garnett Wins All-Star Game MVP 2003

February 18, 2013 by

In the spirit of All Star Weekend for the NBA, this week’s VOTW takes us back to the 2003 All Star Game, when Kevin Garnett put on a clinic in the double overtime victory for the Western Conference.  While this game might be remembered for its tribute to Michael Jordan … or Mariah Carey’s halftime performance as each and every NBA player laughed in the background … it was KG who took over the game itself, finishing with 37 points on 17-24 shooting.  He also collected 9 rebounds, 5 steals, and 3 assists.  All in a day’s work, even if he did put in 41 minutes.  I’m sure Flip Saunders wasn’t thrilled about that.

Sit back and enjoy the six-plus minutes of highlights of KG.  At the same time, note that KG played in his fifteenth All Star Game this past weekend!  Congratulations KG!

Filed Under: Video of the Week Tagged With: ,

How Our Pups Fared Over the 2013 NBA All-Star Weekend

February 18, 2013 by
Ricky and Alexey

Ricky Rubio and Alexey Shved were both participants of the 2013 Rising Stars Challenge.

This year’s All-Star Weekend has very little to do with this season’s Timberwolves roster and that’s unfortunate for a number of reasons.  I will only mention this in the beginning and then move on to more positive thoughts and highlights from the weekend.  The Pups don’t have anyone playing in Sunday’s All-Star Game due to the injuries Kevin Love has suffered.  Also worth noting is that second year pro Derrick Williams couldn’t do enough to get into the Rising Stars game despite Love’s injury.

OK, that’s enough of a recap of how bad things have gone for the Wolves this season.  Let’s concentrate on the positives – Ricky Rubio and Alexey Shved were asked to participate in the Rising Stars game.  Ricky was a late addition to the game given his turnaround over the past few weeks, his global appeal, and the fact that his flair is absolutely perfect for this weekend.

The glass-half-full view allows us to also gloat that David Kahn signed Alexey Shved this past offseason and he has been nothing short of solid for the Pups thus far this season.  At the break Alexey is averaging 10.5 ppg and 4.4 apg.  While his shooting percentages have tailed off, he has been a little bit of a savior for the team given all of the injuries they have had to absorb.

Here are a few highlights Rubio’s performance in Friday night’s Rising Stars game:

  • Despite being a late entry into the game itself, they put Rubio in the starting lineup.
  • Early and often, Rubio looked to drop dimes to the rest of Team Chuck.  In the first few minutes, Rubio’s passes were slightly off, broken up, or his teammates didn’t finish the play.
  • However, things got rolling shortly thereafter.  Towards the very end of the 1st half, this between the legs, no look pass to Bradley Beal happened; amazing!
  • In just over 15 minutes of play, Rubio finished with 10 assists.  Ironically, he was the only player on Team Chuck with a negative +/-, at -2.  The highlights were worth it.

Beyond Kenneth Faried’s MVP performance and Kyrie Irving’s sick dribbling display late in the game, I’m not sure anyone else stole the show as much as Shved in the Rising Stars game.  Here are some highlights:

  • Shved was the first player to come into the game off either bench, likely in an effort to get him on the court with Rubio.
  • Throughout the game, Shved showed off the entire package – slick passes, three point shooting, and a handful of athletic dunks; that included a nice reverse dunk off of a lob pass.
  • At the very end of the game, there was a dunk-off and Faried gave the ball to Shved to try one more dunk.  The dunk itself would have been spectacular … if it didn’t clang off the rim.  Doh!
  • In 18 minutes of play, Shved finished with 12 points and 4 assists.
  • Great performance from Alexey, and it seemed to open up the eyes of the broadcast team (which I don’t know how I feel about that if watching basketball is your job…).  In any case, Chris Webber provided the following, “I tell you what, I’m gonna be watching the Minnesota Timberwolves, baby”

Beyond the BBVA Rising Stars game, there were only a few more references, highlights, etc. that involved the Timberwolves.

Kevin Love was doing some promotional work for Sprint during the celebrity game earlier Friday night and said that his hand was feeling well and he was about a month away from returning.  Hinted at hoping there were meaningful games left to play.  (Nope)

There was very little Wolves-related content on Saturday night’s festivities, unless you want to count a few highlights from past performances.  We saw clips of Love’s winning performance in the 2012 3PT contest over Durant.  In the highlight montage for the Dunk Contest, you saw Isaiah Rider’s East Bay Funk Dunk as well as one of Gerald Green’s dunks.  For those that don’t remember, Green won the contest in ’07 as a Boston Celtic and finished second to Dwight Howard (ugh) in ’08 as a Timberwolf.  The NBA production team showed one of Green’s dunks from his ’08 performance.

Admittedly, I had to skip live coverage of the All-Star Game on Sunday to play the role of a husband.  (Kidding …)  In flipping through the DVR after seeing the final 10 minutes or so, there was virtually nothing Wolves related, excluding a commercial for NBATickets.com that starred Al Horford of the Hawks and our own Ricky Rubio.

(Unrelated to the Wolves, if you enjoy basketball history, please do yourself a favor and watch NBA TV’s Mr. Russell’s House Monday night.  Bill Russell’s interviews are always top-notch.)

Filed Under: Team News Tagged With: ,

Preview: Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Utah Jazz, 2/13/13

February 13, 2013 by

Photo Credit. UtahPhotojournalism.com

Photo Credit. UtahPhotojournalism.com

Setting the stage:

The All Star break is upon us as the Wolves take on the Jazz Wednesday night before the extended layoff.  The Pups were able to hold on Monday night to defeat the Cavs in Cleveland to improve their record to 19-30.  The Jazz come into Wednesday’s game off of a win Tuesday night at home against the reigning conference champions, the OKC Thunder.  The win moved Utah’s record to 29-24 on the season.

Earlier this season, the Pups took it on the chin in Utah, getting blown out by the Jazz 106-84.  The Jazz front line dominated the Wolves in that game, and that was when the Wolves were playing with Kirilenko, Love, and Pekovic in the starting lineup.  Since that meeting in early January, the Wolves have essentially fallen out of the playoff picture, while the Jazz remain in the hunt, fighting with the Rockets and others for the last two seeds in the Western Conference.

Player to watch:

Alec Burks – Curveball alert!  Burks is the player to watch because I would like him to be on the Timberwolves roster by the time the trading deadline comes and goes.  The 6’6 swingman has not progressed in his second year in the league, still struggling to get minutes on the Jazz.  He is shooting under 40% from the field, but is shooting 34% from 3PT range, which would put him near the top of the Wolves roster.

Match-up to watch:

Nikola Pekovic vs. Al Jefferson.  The matchup in the middle is clearly the most appealing coming into Wednesday’s game.  Jefferson leads the Jazz in scoring and rebounding this season.  However, his name has popped up in trade rumors, given the crowded frontcourt the Jazz possess.  During his time with the Wolves, Big Al showcased his offensive repertoire on a nightly basis and it will be important for Pek to night bite on too many of the fakes and to stay out of foul trouble.

Predictions:

I would normally take the Wolves in this game given the Jazz are coming off a game Tuesday night and now travelling to Minnesota.  I think (see: hope) this game will be a lot closer and the Wolves can steal it, but I’ll go on record and say the Jazz are able to pull this off.  (In other words, the Wolves are a lock!)

Final score prediction: Twolves 98, Jazz 102

Three stars of the game predictions:

  1. Paul Millsap
  2. Gordon Hayward
  3. Ricky Rubio

Let’s go Wolves!

Filed Under: Game Previews Tagged With: , , ,
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