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Minnesota Timberwolves 111- Phoenix Suns 107

December 29, 2012 by
Michael Beasley returned to the Target Center, only to shoot 1-8 from the field in 10 minutes off the bench. (Photo Credit: Sports Illustrated)

Michael Beasley returned to the Target Center, only to shoot 1-8 from the field in 10 minutes off the bench. (Photo Credit: Sports Illustrated)

In the National Basketball Association, you take a win in any way, shape or form. The Minnesota Timberwolves did just that, and their sloppy defeat of the Phoenix Suns tonight was just another reminder of how much this team needs to grow before they can be seriously considered a contender in the Western Conference. After playing arguably his worst game of the season in the Wolves latest fourth-quarter collapse against the Houston Rockets on Wednesday, Kevin Love regained rhythm in his shooting stroke and sparked Minnesota with his scoring and rebounding. Despite shooting just 16 of 26 from the free throw line as a team, the Timberpups managed to escape with a narrow 111-107 victory in Michael Beasley’s return to the Target Center.

Game Summary

Regardless of the victory, it felt as if there were more negatives than positives to take from this game. To begin, the Pups were absolutely exploited in their pick-and-roll defense and did a very poor job on their defensive switches and in hard hedging screens. This allowed Phoenix to consistently penetrate the lane, leading to high percentage looks and wide-open kick outs to the perimeter. The Pups were virtually nonexistent in the passing lanes, as they managed only 2 steals while allowing effective lateral ball movement for the Suns.

This win belongs to the Timberwolves starting frontcourt, as they shot a collective 31 of 53 from the field scoring 71 of the teams 111 points while pulling down 34 rebounds. On the other end of the floor, the Wolves had their hands full from a spectacular offensive performance from Luis Scola who managed to score 33 points without turning the ball over once. Scola converted on 16 of his 26 field goal attempts, and amazingly did not attempt his first free throws until late in the fourth quarter, making one of two. The Love-Scola matchup is always an interesting one to watch ever since K-Love’s infamous “stomp”, and Scola truly brought his A game in what must have been a tough loss for him to swallow.

Free throw shooting continues to be a struggle for a Timberwolves team that ranked 22nd in the NBA coming into tonight’s game. As highlighted by Jim Petersen’s commentary, great teams are great from the free throw line and the Pups will have to sharpen up at the charity stripe if they are to move forward in their growth as a ball club.

The Timberwolves witnessed virtually no offensive or defensive production out of their guards tonight, and the lack of depth at PG has posed a significant problem for a team that is currently heavily relying on a successful recovery from Ricky Rubio. Luke Ridnour, in my opinion, has had a very poor season to this point and was an absolute non-factor directing the offense. Ridnour has had a lot of trouble when faced with double teams, as his court vision seems to have diminished to this point in his career. Currently playing through injuries, Ridnour has been unable to knock down threes and continues to settle for contested long twos. In 31 minutes, Ridnour recorded 4 points (2-7 FG), 4 assists, 2 rebounds and 1 turnover.

JJ Barea was not much better, as he constantly complained and argued with referees, receiving a technical foul at the culmination of the third period. Barea was in full tunnel vision mode, dribbling far too much and doing very little to initiate offense. While he made a few nice plays in the fourth quarter, I was largely unimpressed by JJ’s demeanor and sportsmanship in a game that Minnesota barely escaped. Barea posted 10 points (5-13 FG), 5 assists, 1 rebound and 2 turnovers in 27 minutes of action.

The only guard worthy of notice for the Pups was young Alexey Shved, who assumed the role of distributor by dishing out 10 assists to pair with 12 points (3-6 FG) and 4 rebounds. As I have mentioned all season, Shved has thrived in the pick-and-roll with Nikola Pekovic and Kevin Love, being so good at finding his bigs on the roll while possessing the ability to get to the rim if given enough space.

Ricky Rubio, who was expected to see his minutes increase in tonight’s matchup, did not play due to back spasms. Timberwolves training personell worked on Rubio all day in hopes of loosening his back up, but the team ultimately decided that it was best not to risk further injury. With the Timberwolves slated to have three days off, we should see Ricky return to action in the Wolves next matchup in Utah.

Derrick Williams deserves a shout out for his strong play of late, increasing his percentage from three-point range to 37.8%. While he faces a very skeptical head coach in Rick Adelman, Williams has earned his minutes since Love returned to the Pups starting lineup and deserves strong praise for his hard work. There was an odd moment tonight when Williams – yes, Williams – played SG for a few minutes of the first half with the Wolves trying out a very big lineup. After continuously receiving criticisms about his play as a SF, it came to the shock of many to see D-Will playing 2-guard. In a very efficient 14 minutes, Williams finished with 10 points (3-6 FG, 2-3 3FG), 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 block and 1 turnover.

Three Stars of the Game

  1. Kevin Love - Impressive bounce-back performance for K-Love, who posted 23 points (8-20 FG, 2-6 3FG) and 18 boards after scoring only 7 against the Rockets on Wednesday. Love reportedly stayed after practice to work on his game this week and it sure looks like it paid off. While he was once again exploited on the defensive end as displayed by a 33-point outburst by Luis Scola, it was great to see Love hitting his shots and pleasing the Target Center crowd.
  2. Nikola Pekovic - If Pekovic is looking for a max contract this summer, he is sure making a good case for himself. Entering tonight’s game averaging 15.6 points and 8.2 rebounds per game, Pekovic exploded for 28 points (13-20 FG), 11 rebounds (6 offensive rebounds), 1 assist, 1 block and 1 steal in 34 minutes. Although I am not completely sold on the idea of Pek receiving max dollars, it is great to see how far he has come as a player.
  3. Andrei Kirilenko - It is beginning to feel repetitive in the ways that I describe AK-47s play night after night. The most consistent Pup this season in my mind, Kirilenko continues to provide a little bit of everything for the Wolves. AK ended the night with 20 points (10-13 FG), 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 turnover in 34 minutes of action.

The return of Super Cool Beas was as uneventful as they come, with Beasley’s only points coming off a Greg Stiemsma goal tend. Beasley shot 1-8 from the field in 10 minutes, and Wesley Johnson received another DNP-CD as a part of his brutal first season with the Suns. The Pups now have three days of rest before their Wednesday night game as they will square off against the Jazz in Utah.

 

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Minnesota Timberwolves 91 – New York Knicks 94

December 23, 2012 by
Timberwolves' Nikola Pekovic had his hands full against a long and athletic New York Knicks frontcourt (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)

Timberwolves’ Nikola Pekovic had his hands full against a long and athletic New York Knicks frontcourt (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)

In what seems to be a continuing theme of the 2012-13 NBA season, the Minnesota Timberwolves were the latest team to leave Madison Square Garden with a bad taste in their mouths due to yet another late-game Knicks comeback led by Carmelo Anthony. New York outscored the Timberpups 48-36 in the second half and ultimately knocked off the Wolves 94-91 in the final seconds. Anthony, who scored 19 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter, is currently enjoying one of the best seasons of his career averaging an even 28 PPG with a player efficiency rating of 26.37, leading New York to a 20-7 record which is good for 2nd in the Eastern Conference.

Game Summary

Despite enduring a fourth-quarter collapse, there were many positives to take out of this game. To begin, the Wolves once again demonstrated their ability to effectively score on the low post, even when facing reigning Defensive Player of the Year Tyson Chandler. Playing without Kevin Love, who missed the game due to an eye injury sustained in the Wolves win against OKC, the Pups relied heavily on Nikola Pekovic to provide the majority of the team’s offense on the low post.

Minnesota entered today’s contest with the highest rebounding rate in the NBA, and even without Love were able to outrebound the Knicks 47-35, including 13 offensive rebounds as a team. Turnovers were a problem for the Wolves, who committed 16 while allowing the Knicks to steal the ball 11 times.

In an electric Madison Square Garden atmosphere, Ricky Rubio had yet another tough performance in which he committed 5 turnovers and 4 personal fouls during his 18-minute time constraint. Rubio clearly lacks the explosiveness and cutting ability that he demonstrated last season and his return to full strength will require much more patience than was initially anticipated following his incredible season debut versus the Dallas Mavericks. Ricky finished with 5 points (2-6 FG), 2 assists and 1 rebound.

Alexey Shved continues to play fantastic against some of the leagues top teams, and the packed Knicks crowd gave a collective head scratch while asking “Who the heck is Alexey Shved?” Shved contributed with his perimeter shooting and his patience on the pick-and-roll, nailing 4 of his 9 three-point attempts while logging 39 minutes. As he continues to adjust to his role as a starter, some of the growing pains associated with his increased workload were evident in his 5 turnovers committed. Shved showed off his poise in the clutch after stripping J.R. Smith on an inbound pass and drilling a three-pointer to cut the Knicks lead to 1 point with only seconds remaining. However, following two Carmelo free throws, Shved was unable to tie the game on a contested three-point attempt and the Knicks held on to win. Alexey nonetheless impressed in what was his first exposure to many New Yorkers, and ended with the line of 18 points (7-16 FG), 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 steal.

After having to guard LeBron James and Kevin Durant in the past two games, Andrei Kirilenko had his hands full matched up against yet another superstar SF in Carmelo Anthony. Through 3 quarters, it appeared as if AK-47 were getting the better of the matchup, holding Melo to 14 points entering the final period. However, Carmelo exploded in the final quarter and Kirilenko fouled out in just 20 minutes on the court. Backing up AK at PF was Dante Cunningham and Derrick Williams, with Cunningham seeing the majority of the reserve minutes. “DC Hustle” provided solid defense in both the interior and on the perimeter, and finished with 12 points (6-10 FG), 10 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and no turnovers. A very efficient night for Cunningham as he continues to provide efficient minutes in a variety of roles for the Timberwolves.

With Love out, Rick Adelman went small tonight by starting Shved along with JJ Barea and Luke Ridnour. Each player logged 38 minutes and were for the most part largely effective. However, the Pups had a very tough time creating offense in the fourth quarter, and hard-hedging by the Knicks effectively hurt Minnesota’s spacing while pushing Wolves ball handlers away from the lane. Both players had a tough time penetrating the lane and settled with too many contested looks down the stretch, which ultimately contributed to the Pups demise.

Three Stars of the Game

  1. Carmelo Anthony – No questions here, Melo earned this one. Although it took him a while to get hot, Anthony did not hesitate and continued to attack the rim while not shying away from taking jump-shots. Improved ball movement in the second half allowed Melo to get a few more uncontested looks, which he knocked down in the fourth quarter. In a game-high 44 minutes played, Anthony finished with 33 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block and 4 turnovers.
  2. J.R. Smith – Fitting that Anthony’s old running mate from his days back in Denver receives the second star, as Smith not only provided with his perimeter shooting but also from his passing. Smith was a game-high +8 on the court and finished with the line of 19 points (7-15 FG, 2-6 3FG), 7 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 turnovers in 39 minutes.
  3. Nikola Pekovic – Pek had the burden of carrying the load for Minnesota offensively faced against Tyson Chandler, but nonetheless provided 21 points (7-16 FG) and 17 rebounds in 40 minutes. While he cannot stretch the floor like K-Love, Pek continues to be vital for Minnesota’s success and increases the Wolves vesatility as a scoring unit.

Although this one is tough to swallow, the Wolves will likely get K-Love back for their matchup against the Houston Rockets at home on Wednesday night at 7:00 PM CT.

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The Wrath of Pek

December 23, 2012 by

Photo: Associated Press

Photo: Associated Press

What happens when an unstoppable object meets an immovable object? 6’-11”, 290 Ibs Nikola Pekovic is what happens! Pek has proven to be a mountainous asset to this Pups team, when Pek flexes, so do the Wolves. Looking through the team s wins and losses, it is important to notice one key trend, the Wolves are 6-0 when peck scores 20 or more (odd stat is we are 5-0 when Pek records 2 or more blocks).Second on the team (1st AK47 .510) in shooting percentage at .505, it is important for the Wolves to get Pek going. His presence of the court will sometimes get overlooked due to our star players Rubio and Love, but his presence and the attention he receives changes the game.

One trait that I love is his ability to get the opposing bigs into foul trouble. He is second on the team (1st Love) in Free Throw attempts, but that doesn’t illustrate fouls he draws on the ground. A great example was last night’s game against the Thunder. Kendrick Perkins who is no slouch on defense racked up two early fouls in the first quarter forcing Thunder Coach Scott Brooks to bring in the number 2 overall pick in the 2009 draft, Hasheem Thabeet. Thabeet, who serves as a defensive minded backup Center proved to be another victim of the Serbian beast. Pek’s play helped influence a move of positions, Brooks sifted Kevin Durant from the 3 to the 4, and place Serge Ibaka at the 5. This move didn’t have the Wolves running rampant all over the Thunder, but it still helped bring the 12 game losing streak against the Thunder to a halt.

Pick and Rolls baby! Pek is a master of the pick and roll, and luckily we have some Guards who love to run it with him. I don’t know if I can name too many (or any) Centers that are better at rolling to the basket then Pek. He is so big and knows how to use his body to keep those passing lanes open, and it is a sight to see it. Matching Pek with a team that has players at every position who can pass has been fun to watch. But you can’t take anything away from Pek, a lot of credit needs to go to his hustle, not many centers can match it. I remember in training camp Pek came in noticeable fitter and the coaches were raving about him leading the pack during running drills. He’s a Center!

We still have not seen the best of him yet, he is a player who has gotten better each year and continues to work on his game. I’m excited to see what new trick Pek learns next…… a jump s hot? I have heard he has a decent one, and he did hit a nice one against the Thunder.

Let’s see how the Timberwolves come out against the Knicks in Madison Square Garden. The Knicks bring an interesting matchup with Carmelo at the four and one of the best defensive centers in the league Tyson Chandler. Pek had his chance to show nationally what he can do, let’s see if teams took note.

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Minnesota Timberwolves 99 – Oklahoma City Thunder 93

December 21, 2012 by
Kevin Love got hot from beyond the arc early despite strong defense from Oklahoma City.

Kevin Love got hot from beyond the arc early despite strong defense from Oklahoma City.

Marching into the Target Center looking for their 13th consecutive victory and sitting in first place with a record of 21-4, the Oklahoma City looked to try their luck against an up-and-down Minnesota Timberwolves team recovering from various injuries. The Thunder were without SG Kevin Martin, who was a main piece to the blockbuster James Harden trade and he has had a tremendous season for OKC averaging 15.1 PPG.

Playing on TNT for the first time since the 2006-07 season, the Wolves looked great on prime time and snapped the Thunder’s 12-game win streak behind big performances from Kevin Love, Nikola Pekovic, Alexey Shved and even some 4th quarter heroics from JJ Barea. Shooting 45% from three-point range, the Pups knocked off the Thunder 99-93.

Game Summary

The Timberwolves got hot early, outscoring the Thunder 30-18 in the first quarter. Last night was the first time Minnesota was able to show off their new offseason acquisitions against the defending Western Conference champions, and Andrei Kirilenko was able to slow down superstar Kevin Durant just enough. KD was able to finish with an impressive line of 33 points (12-21 FG), 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals, but also committed 3 turnovers and 5 personal fouls in 41 minutes of play.

After sitting out the latter half of a back-to-back in Miami, Ricky Rubio was back in action against the Thunder and played all of his 18-minute time restriction that the team currently has him on as he regains his lower body strength and conditioning. The Timberwolves team and fans had a scare with around 6 minutes remaining in the 2nd quarter after Ricky came up limping after hard-planting on his left foot on a drive to the hoop. After being looked over by team medical personnel, Tricky Ricky was cleared to play and returned in the 3rd period.

It is clear that it is going to take some time for Rubio to get up to speed and regain strength in not only his left knee, but also the muscles surrounding. When suffering an injury as severe as the one Ricky endured, there is a tendency for the muscles surrounding the injured spot to overcompensate which can cause injury to different muscles in the leg. When faced with a matchup of arguably the fastest and most athletic PG in NBA history in Russell Westbrook, Rubio had a tough time – along with everyone else – keeping the extremely dynamic Westbrook in front of him on the defensive end. In 18 minutes of playing time, Rubio was limited to 0 points (0-3 FG), 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 turnovers. On the opposite end, Westbrook finished with 30 points (9-28 FG), 11 rebounds, 9 assists, 3 steals and an atrocious 8 turnovers in 44 minutes of play.

Despite being 1 assist away from a triple-double, Westbrook was extremely out of control when penetrating the lane and Minnesota played absolutely phenomenal help-side defense triggering turnovers. On the offensive end, the Wolves moved the ball very well and head coach Rick Adelman’s impressive offensive scheming was on full display for a national audience. The Wolves found a lot of success with the high pick-and-roll, forcing mismatches for both Love and Pekovic rolling to the basket. The Wolves frontcourt combined for 52 points and 21 rebounds and dominated a OKC frontcourt that is praised for its defense. Kendrick Perkins, who was once considered as one of the top low-post defenders in the NBA, has fallen off dramatically this season averaging only 4.8 points and 5.1 rebounds despite earning nearly $8 million this season with three years remaining on his contract. Perkins played just 20 minutes while grabbing 2 rebounds and failing to record a point.

JJ Barea came up big in the 4th quarter as he provided a few critical late-game shots while drawing an offensive foul on Durant which also led to a technical foul from the NBAs top scorer. After review, while I believe Barea was fouled, it is clear that he contributed a little bit of “flop” and may be receiving a call from the NBA soon. With Luke Ridnour having an off-day scoring only 4 points, Barea provided 18 points (7-13 FG, 3-4 3FG), 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 2 turnovers in a productive 23 minutes.

Minnesota tallied 27 team assists on 37 made FGs, and used effective passing to create easy opportunities for one another. Their team defense was very effective tonight, and even K-Love was able to provide a few nice blocks on the defensive end.

Three Stars of the Game

  1. Kevin Love: Love had by far his best game since his now infamous interview with Yahoo! Sports and showed off his entire skill set for the national audience. Playing 40 minutes and matched up against one of the top interior defenders in the NBA in Serge Ibaka, Love finished with 28 points (9-20 FG, 4-9 3FG), 11 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 blocks and only 1 turnover. Not only was Love hitting his threes, but he was also doing an excellent job of setting up teammates in the half-court offense as well as hitting teammates with crisp, full-court outlet passes in transition. Maybe it was the fact that Love has never gotten the chance to play on TNT before, but he was very active on the defensive end and was truly the best player on the floor. Big tip of the cap to K-Love, and I hope that he can continue this trend of outside shooting, passing, and defensive intensity.
  2. Nikola Pekovic: Apparently the rest of the NBA community had no idea how good Pekovic is, for the TNT commentators seemed to be baffled by the level of production that Pek brought tonight. Big Pek topped the night off with another double-double of 24 points (10-18 FG), 10 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 steal and 2 turnovers in 38 minutes and thrived off the pick-and-roll.
  3. Alexey Shved: Congratulations to Alexey Shved, who notched his first career double-double and nearly a triple-double. Shved, who is known to thrive in the spotlight, had an absolutely fantastic performance and finished with 12 points (5-10 FG, 2-4 3FG), 12 assists, 7 rebounds, 1 steal and only 1 turnover in 33 minutes. Shved resembled nothing of a rookie and I am sure that OKC will not soon forget his name, as he provided several highlight-reel passes while coming up big shooting the ball when he needed to. Although there is tough competition in this season’s rookie class, consider Shved a dark horse for Rookie of the Year.

Concerning the national commentators seeming lack of knowledge surrounding Pekovic, who was runner up for Most Improved Player last season, Jim Petersen had this to say:

All-in-all, this was arguably the Wolves best team win of the season and several players stepped up and provided the “little things” which swung the game in Minnesota’s favor. The Pups are set to take on the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden this Sunday beginning at 4PM CT.

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Minnesota Timberwolves 93 – Orlando Magic 102

December 18, 2012 by

Kevin Love & Ricky Rubio.jpgThe opening of Minnesota’s road trip through Florida didn’t start off like it should have, with the Wolves dropping the opening game of a back to back down in Orlando.

As expected, Kevin Love returned to the starting lineup tonight for the Pups, joining Ridnour, Shved, Kirilenko and Pekovic.  No surprises from the Magic, as they opened up with Jameer Nelson, Arron Afflalo, Maurice Harkless, Glen Davis, and Nikola Vucevic.

As they should have, the Wolves got off to a quick start dominating the paint area going up 12-5 and forcing Magic coach Jacque Vaughn to burn an early timeout.  With the Wolves up 14-9, Luke Ridnour turned the ball over to Big Baby who then dribbled the ball down the court for a dunk.  How or why no one on the Wolves caught up to Davis to foul him is beyond me (and quite frustrating).  Minutes later, Pekovic was called for traveling in the paint when the refs should have called a 3rd foul on Davis.  Knowing the final outcome of the game allows me to point out how critical this call/non-call was.

At the end of the 1st quarter, the Wolves were up 29-27.  However, it should have been much larger as the Pups failed to score a single point in the final 2+ minutes of the quarter.  Ricky Rubio checked into the game with about four minutes left in the quarter and had several flashy passes – some of which led to turnovers instead of easy baskets.  This will likely take some time to get acclimated to his teammates and tendencies.  The Magic were down by as many as 11 points in the quarter and were able to close strongly, on a 10-1 run.

The Wolves second unit struggled on the offensive end of the floor in the 2nd quarter.  Dante Cunningham provided his normal, active body.  However, DWill, Rubio, Barea, and Stiemsma all struggled to produce in their minutes.  Adelman saw similar results and went back to much of his starting lineup coming out of a TO halfway through the quarter.

After taking a 42-41 lead, the Magic went cold and allowed the Wolves to open up what should have been a comfortable lead.  The Pups went on a 20-7 run to close out the half, with the Wolves up 61-49.   Here are a few halftime thoughts through my Wolves lens:

  • Despite the score, the Wolves did not look good defensively
  • However, they dominated the paint on the offensive side of the ball, particularly Pekovic
  • JJ Redick would look fantastic in a Wolves uniform, no?
  • The Magic announcers (Breen and Goukas) basically said that Kevin Love will be a Laker or Blazer sooner rather than later.  Excuse me for a few seconds …

The opening minutes of the 3rd quarter were played at a relatively slow pace.  The Wolves increased their lead to 15 points, going up 68-53.  With a chance to increase the lead further, the Wolves missed another layup and saw the Magic start to cut into the gap.  The Magic were led by the offensive efforts of Big Baby.  Kevin Love’s defensive efforts were not on display in this one.

The Wolves continued to struggle on both ends of the floor in the 3rd quarter, outscored by the Magic 25-17 at the end of three to reduce the Pups lead to just 4 points, 78-74.  Interesting stat from the quarter; neither team attempted a FT in those twelve minutes.  This can’t happen very often at all, can it?

As a Wolves fan, the 4th quarter was incredibly frustrating.  The game went back and forth over the first six-seven minutes or so of the quarter with neither team doing much offensively.  Unfortunately, the Magic woke up and were able to pull away over the next few minutes, going on a 17-6 run to end the game and pull out the win, 102-93.  The Wolves fell asleep in the second half for some reason, only scoring 32 points over the final 24 minutes.

These are games that the Wolves need to win.  With the assumption that Rubio is shut down for Tuesday’s game in Miami as scheduled, it looks like the team will head back to Minnesota later this week on a two game losing streak and facing the Thunder.  (Gulp)

Three Stars of the Game:

  1. Glen Davis
  2. JJ Redick
  3. Nikola Pekovic
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Preview: T’wolves at Magic 12/17/12

December 16, 2012 by
Photo Credit: Associated Press

Photo Credit: Associated Press

Setting the stage:

The Pups are coming into Monday’s game with a four game winning streak and have two very tough games after Monday’s matchup against the Magic (@ Miami and then home vs. OKC).  Hopefully, they do not underestimate the Magic who are clearly rebuilding but playing much better than many expected, with a 10-12 record on the year and winner’s of their last two.

The two teams that joined the NBA in 1989 met at the beginning of the season, with the Wolves hammering the Magic 90-75 at the Target Center.  The Magic continue to be led by Arron Afflalo and Big Baby Davis.  Jameer Nelson and JJ Redick also help lead the charge for the overachieving roster.  If you look beyond these four players, you see a lot of question marks and a few “Who?”’s.  Sorry Orlando.  The Magic are near the bottom of the league (26th) in PPG at 92.6 but this is by design, slowing the game down and trying to grind it out.

In case you missed my weekend drooling, Ricky Rubio returned to the Pups lineup on Saturday night and provided the needed spark to improve the team’s current win streak against Dallas in OT.  Nikola Pekovic continued his strong play over the past few games and Team Russia continues to highlight the team continuity that is growing on the court.  While Kevin Love sat out Saturday’s game with the flu, we should expect to see him back on the court on Monday.

Player to watch:

Kevin Love – It will be interesting to see how Love performs on Monday night given not only Rubio’s performance on Saturday night, but the reception he received from the Target Center.  Love has been terribly “off”, shooting the ball at a 31.6% clip from the field and 65.1% from the FT line in the month of December.  The Yahoo! article certainly didn’t help matters and we’ll see how Love can respond with a few days rest given his absence from Saturday’s game.  The matchup against Glen Davis should provide a boost, unless Love lets Big Baby get underneath his skin.  (I can’t think of too many other players – beyond the entire Spurs roster (boom!) – that complain to the refs as much as these two PF’s do.

Match-up to watch:

Ricky Rubio vs. Jameer Nelson.  It has been documented all season thus far; the Pups have given up huge offensive games to opposing PG’s more often than not.  The return of Rubio should help end this trend over the next few weeks.  It would be a good time to start on Monday night, given the lack of firepower the Magic display down on the block.

Predictions:

The Wolves will avoid overlooking the Magic and move the win streak to five games!  They have been scoring more in the past week and will continue to do so on Monday.

Final score prediction: Twolves 106, Magic 92

Three stars of the game predictions:

  1. Nikola Pekovic
  2. Andrei Kirilenko
  3. Kevin Love

Let’s go Wolves!

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Minnesota Timberwolves 114 – Dallas Mavericks 106

December 16, 2012 by
Photo Credit: Associated Press - Genevieve Ross

Photo Credit: Associated Press – Genevieve Ross

The Timberwolves returned to Target Center to complete the end of a back-to-back and got the boost they needed from the return of Boy Wonder, Ricky Rubio.  In just 18 minutes of action, Rubio razzled and dazzled the packed house that came to see his return, with 8 points, 9 assists, 4 rebounds, and 3 steals.  Big Al is going to ask me to stop doing recaps if this keeps up because the homerism I project when talking about Rubio is borderline nauseating.

Here’s how things went down.  The Wolves opened up with Ridnour, Shved, Kirilenko, Cunningham, and Pekovic.  Kevin Love was out of the game due to flu-like symptoms, not his injured hand from Friday night’s game in NOLA.  It is a bit interesting that Cunningham got the start over Derrick Williams, but he’s certainly earned it so far this season.  The Mavs opened up with super-villain Derek Fisher, OJ Mayo, Dahntay Jones, Shawn Marion, and Chris Kaman.

The Wolves ran virtually the same play on the offensive end as they did in Friday’s game for an easy layup to start the game.  However, after that opening bucket the Wolves struggled through the next few minutes, falling behind a Derek Fisher led Mavs team that was coming off a horrendous loss the night prior in Toronto.  The defensive effort of the Pups early was awful, allowing the Mavs to do virtually whatever they wanted and building a lead of 20-9.  Minnesota answered with a five point run by Alexey Shved’s three pointer and alley-oop assist to AK47.

With the Wolves down 28-18 and 1:47 left in the 1st quarter, Boy Wonder checked into the game to a standing ovation.  Ricky wore a white brace on his left knee.  His first points came at the FT line after being fouled by Derek Fisher on an in-bounds play.  Adelman went with an interesting lineup to close out the quarter, with Rubio, Barea, and Shved all on the floor at the same time.  Rubio closed the quarter with a nice skip pass to JJ Barea under the basket which led to two points on a goaltending call.  However, at the end of the quarter, the Mavs were still up by 10 points, 32-22.

The Wolves opened the 2nd quarter with the same five that ended the 1st quarter – Rubio, Barea, Shved, DWill, and Stiemsma.  Rubio led the way early in the quarter with a few flashy passes and his first bucket of the season.  After Shved hit a three pointer, the Mavs quickly called a TO.  Over the next few minutes, the Wolves slowly but surely cut into the Mavs lead eventually taking a 40-39 advantage due to another Shved three pointer.

With just over five minutes in the quarter, Stiemsma laid out Derek Fisher on a pick and I couldn’t have been happier.  A few seconds later, Stiemsma blocked Fisher’s shot on a drive but the refs made a terrible call and gave Fisher two FT’s to tie the game at 42.  One minute later, Barea drew an offensive foul on Fisher which led to Carlisle replacing him on the floor.  Things got very chippy in the game and it was a good move by the Mavs coach before things got too far out of control.

The Pups finished the half on a small run to take a nine point lead into the locker room, up 54-45.  Here are a few halftime thoughts through my Wolves lens:

  • Ricky Rubio is a golden god
  • I’m slowly talking myself into a Kevin Love trade – more on this later in the week
  • Alexey Shved and Ricky Rubio are golden gods (see what I’m doing here?)

The Wolves and Mavs both opened up the 3rd quarter with the same starting five from the beginning of the night.  Over the first six minutes of the quarter, Minnesota built its lead up to 15 points and it looked like it might get ugly again for the Mavs.  However, instead of quitting, the Mavs put up a quick 7-0 run to cut the lead to 8 points with OJ Mayo guiding much of the run.

Surprise surprise as Ricky returned to the court to close out the 3rd quarter and helped give the Wolves a few easy buckets.  After Marion hit a buzzer beater to end the quarter, the Wolves held an 80-70 lead going into the final twelve minutes … or so you would have thought.

Similar to the Wolves ‘slowly but surely’ run earlier in the game, over the course of the first six minutes of 4th quarter, the Mavs cut into the Wolves lead.  After cutting the lead to one possession a few times, Luke Ridnour provided the answer multiple times; once with a three pointer as the shot clock expired, a second with a running floater.  The incredibly annoying Derek Fisher finally put the Mavs over the top with a four point play, despite the foul call being a “little” questionable.

With two minutes to go, Rubio stepped to the line and missed both FT’s.  On the other end of the court, Ricky was called for a foul on a Derek Fisher jump shot.  Let’s reiterate a “little” questionable on that one as well.  Coming back down the court, Rubio crossed Fisher over and drew his 6th foul and this time, Rubio hit both FT’s to tie the game at 100.

After trading baskets and a lot of confusion between the referees, the Wolves had multiple chances to win the game as the clock wound down.  Rubio missed a three pointer and then Pekovic and AK47 missed a few tip-ins as the clock expired.  Tied at 102, we were heading to overtime.

The Wolves scored the first 10 points of OT led by AK47’s efforts.  That was all she wrote as the Mavs looked gassed, particularly Shawn Marion who had a few awful looking FG attempts.  The Pups were able to grab a few offensive rebounds that prevented the Mavs from making any type of run in the extra frame.

The final score was 114-106 with the Wolves moving their win streak to four games going into a big week, visiting Florida (don’t send anyone home between the Orlando and Miami games please) and then hosting Oklahoma City.

Three Stars of the Game:

  1. Ricky Rubio (come on man!)
  2. Nikola Pekovic
  3. Alexey Shved
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