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Minnesota Timberwolves 90, Los Angeles Clippers 96

January 31, 2013 by

Eric BledsoeAfter missing the past 11 games to tend to his wife Mary Kay who is suffering from seizures, Timberwolves Head Coach Rick Adelman returned to the bench only to witness the Pups suffer their fifth consecutive loss as Minnesota fell to the Los Angeles Clippers 96-90. While the Wolves nearly knocked off the third-seeded team in the Western Conference, there is little consolation for dropping yet another game at home and falling for the fifth time in as many games.

Game Notes

I am going to skip the traditional game recap format and simply offer some game notes, as I feel like I continue to recycle the same thoughts concerning the Timberwolves’ struggles:

  • Alexey Shved and Nikola Pekovic returned from injury, and Pek got the start at center while Shved came off the bench. Shved, who was recently added to the Rising Stars rookie roster over All-Star weekend, played fairly well and was +3 on the court and scored 12 points on 5-13 shooting with 3 assists in 21 minutes. Pek added 17 points and 12 boards.
  • Ricky Rubio really struggled last night, contributing just 9 points and 4 assists in 27 minutes. He had a tough time hanging with Clippers PG Eric Bledsoe, who finished with 10 points, 10 assists, and 6 steals as he continues to fill in for the injured Chris Paul.
  • Derrick Williams played only 13 minutes and it appears as if Adelman’s frustration with the former number-2 overall pick has not swayed, despite his long absence from the team. The Timberwolves NEED to figure out what they are going to do with Williams, because as his minutes begin to shrink, so does his trade value.
  • Blake Griffin ravaged the Wolves front line with 26 points and 13 boards in 36 minutes. Minnesota clearly lacks athleticism on their front line, and it was very apparent last night against arguably the most athletic player in the NBA.
  • The Timberwolves need a shooting guard (what’s new?). The absence of a knock-down shooter has crippled the Timberwolves this season, and it must be their number one priority heading into this summers free agency. I cannot see this team going very far with Luke Ridnour as the team’s starting 2-guard, and Alexey Shved is a few years of strength training away from being a bonafide starter.
  • Matt Barnes is the enforcer that the Clippers need. Say what you will about Barnes, but he has brought a swagger to the Clippers that have fueled the teams transformation into a legitimate championship contender. After a scuffle with Wolves center Greg Stiemsma in the second period, Barnes was ejected from the game. Despite his tendencies to allow his emotions to dictate his play, his “never back down” mentality brings confidence and physicality to a team that desperately needed it following last season
  • Eric Bledsoe is awesome. Who would have thought that the relatively unknown 2-guard from the 2009-2010 Kentucky Wildcats team would end up being arguably as effective in the NBA as fellow teammate and former number-1 overall draft selection John Wall? Bledsoe has been perfect insurance for CP3 this season but this will likely be the last season he plays for the Clippers. The up-tempo PG is set to become a restricted free agent this summer, and will likely receive very generous offer sheets from teams desperate for a starter at the point. I hope he gets a chance to start somewhere next year because he has a chance at becoming a very, very good player.

I apologize for the brevity of this recap, but hopefully you got a good idea about last nights match. The Wolves will now take on the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday at the Target Center. The Lakers are coming off a loss to the Phoenix Suns in which former Pup Michael Beasley dropped 27 on the Lake show. Keep the faith, Wolves fans.

 

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Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Los Angeles Clippers, 1/30/13

January 29, 2013 by

rickyrubio_blakegriffinFor the third time this season and for the second time in two weeks, the Timberwolves will be playing the Los Angeles Clippers Wednesday night.  The game begins a much needed, six game home stretch for the Pups as they look to right the ship that sails into the second half of the season.

The good news: it looks like Rick Adelman will be returning to the sidelines for the Pups!  The team was 2-9 during his extended absence in January to be with his ailing wife.  Let’s just say that it is good to have Coach Adelman on the sidelines.

Bonus good news: Pekovic and Shved returned to practice this week and may be available to start this stretch of home games!  Please cross your fingers.

The bad news: The Wolves have been beaten by the Clippers in each of their meetings this season, with the latter game on 1/17 being a complete dress-down for the Pups.  The only reason that game was remotely close (90-77) is because the Clippers looked like they took a few minutes off from time to time.

Player to watch:

Ricky Rubio – Rubio had his best performance of the season on Saturday night in Charlotte, finishing a game high +23 for the evening with 14 points, 8 assists, and 5 steals.  Let’s build on this!  Hopefully, Ricky is becoming more comfortable with his legs and his teammates so that we can start to see more of these types of performances much more frequently.  (Side note: the team desperately needs them.)

Match-up to watch:

Andrei Kirilenko vs. Caron Butler.  Without knowing who is in and who is out at the time of writing (Monday night) here is the match-up to watch.  Caron had a miserable performance against the Wolves back on 11/28, going 1-8 from the field for 2 points.  However, Andrei missed that game due to injury.  Two weeks ago Butler fared a little bit better with 12 points and putting in a few rebounds and assists going against AK47.  That said, Kirilenko got the better of him, finishing the game with 15 points on 7-12 shooting and adding in 5 rebounds and 4 steals.

Predictions:

With the return of Coach Adelman and the extended break between games, I say the Pups take Wednesday night’s game at home against the Clippers!

Final score prediction: Twolves 104, Clippers 97

Three stars of the game predictions:

  1. Ricky Rubio
  2. Andrei Kirilenko
  3. Blake Griffin

Let’s go Wolves!

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Minnesota Timberwolves 77, Los Angeles Clippers 90

January 18, 2013 by

Love game winnerGame Summary

(We didn’t have the opportunity to see a repeat performance of the lead picture here, so let’s live in the past for a few seconds!  Man that was a fun night!)

The Timberwolves returned home for Thursday night’s game against the LA Clippers, arriving with a four game losing streak in tow.  The Clippers came in with a two game winning streak and holding the second best record in the league.  Adding a little bit of drama (see what I’m doing there?) to tonight’s game, Kevin Harlan returned to the Target Center to call Thursday’s game for TNT’s national broadcast!

There were a few changes to the starting lineup for the Pups this evening.  This is likely due to a number of factors: able bodies, terrible losses, some type of spark being needed.  The Wolves opened up with Rubio, Ridnour, Kirilenko, Williams, and Pekovic.  Prior to tipoff, the Clippers announced that Chris Paul would miss his third straight game.  The Clippers opened up with Eric Bledsoe, Willie Green, Caron Butler, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan.

The first quarter was flying by as the first timeout wasn’t called until there were under five minutes left to go in the period.  The Wolves found themselves down 14-9.  Unfortunately, and stop me if you have heard this before, the team struggled to hit a jump shot.  The four offensive rebounds the team already collected to that point couldn’t make up for the 4-16 (25%) shooting.

After the TO, the Pups went 3-5 from the field to cut the Clippers lead to two points, 19-17.  This was preceded by a few nice defensive plays in the paint by DWill, including a blocked shot that led to a layup, which forced the Clippers to burn a TO.  DWill clearly plays better with Rubio on the floor and while they both struggled shooting the ball, they were clearly very active.  Pekovic also struggled from the floor, going 0-5 while not getting to the line.  Clearly, he wasn’t paying attention to my comments in the preview.  At the end of the 1st quarter, the Clippers held a 27-22 lead.

The Pups opened up the 2nd quarter in a rut, as the Clip-Joint went on an 8-2 run and opened up a 35-24 lead, forcing Terry Porter to burn another TO.  There were too many easy buckets for the Clippers and the Wolves fell back into “another” shooting slump.  Somehow (read: the Clippers taking a few minutes off), the Twolves slowly made a comeback to cut the lead to three points with less than two minutes to play in the half.  However, with a chance to cut the lead to one, Rubio missed a wide open layup and then turned the ball over the next time down the court, leading to a Jamal Crawford three pointer.

With the last possession of the half, Ridnour had a chance to cut the lead to one possession and missed a floater.  At halftime, the Clippers held a 47-43 lead.  Here are a couple halftime thoughts through my Wolves lens:

  • That missed layup and TO from Rubio felt like a major opportunity lost and seemed to deflate the building a bit.
  • Help might be on the way for the Wolves, as the expected signing of Mickael Gelabale might become official tomorrow when Lazar Hayward’s contract runs out.  Thanks to Jon K on this one …

To be perfectly honest, for the first few minutes of the 3rd quarter I found myself just listening to Kevin Harlan and Mike Fratello.  For the record, that is a complement to Harlan and Fratello.  I usually find myself trying to drain out the noise of the broadcast but really enjoy listening to the two of them.  In any case, the Wolves and Clippers went back and forth for the first six minutes but the home team continued to trail.

With less than four minutes to play in the 3rd quarter, TNT panned to the Pups bench.  Sadly, what they were showing was Pekovic walking to the locker room with a trainer.  Seriously?!  Seriously.  Pek was injured when he fell to the floor after being tied up with Griffin.  Sometimes, life just isn’t fair.  Before the end of the quarter, it was reported that Pek had a right quad contusion and his return was questionable.  (He never returned to the court.)

For the first time in at least a week (Atlanta game on 1/8?), the Wolves played a pretty decent 3rd quarter and kept the game well within striking distance.  Going into the 4th quarter, the Clips led 68-63.

File this under “this is really getting depressing”: Halfway through the 4th quarter Alexey Shved came down on Lamar Odom’s foot wrong and twisted his ankle.  Shved walked directly to the locker room after the play and didn’t return.  I’m relatively positive this season must be the last piece of bad karma from the Joe Smith signing.

By the way, the Pups fell apart in the 4th quarter and it is hard to find a reason to blame them for doing so.  If the building wasn’t deflated after Pek’s injury, it certainly was after Shved left the game.  The Clippers outscored the Wolves 22-14 in the 4th to pull away and win, 90-77.  The loss was the Pups 5th in a row and there are many more questions right now than answers.  We’ll see what the injury report looks like for Saturday’s game in Houston.

Keys of the Game

  • Nikola Pekovic – Pekovic was having one of his weakest games of the season, shooting 1-8 for 4 points.  Then he went down in the 3rd quarter and didn’t return.
  • Shooting – I’m “dumbing” this down to the most basic summary feasible.  You aren’t going to win many games when you shoot 36% from the field, 21% (4-19) from 3PT range, and 65% (13-20) from the FT line.  All systems are broken right now.

Three Stars of the Game

  1. Jamal Crawford – Led the Clippers in scoring with 22 points, with a few rebounds, assists, and steals sprinkled in.
  2. Blake Griffin – While by no means dominant, Griffin had a decent game with 20 points and decent defense.
  3. Luke Ridnour – Moved over to the SG position tonight with Rubio at PG and looked much more comfortable.  Finished with 21 points, 5 assists, and 4 rebounds.
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