With KG getting injured and falling on the way to the tunnel due to pain, only to make a late-game return, I knew we were potentially due for another WWF-esque moment from the Big Ticket.  I was really hoping to see him raise his arms as he entered and get the crowd going nuts. It's absolutely incredible when he gets them going like that, even if it does get the home crowd rallied up against my own team. 

Instead, we were "treated" to KG's tirade at the end of the game in which he popped out his jersey to display "Celtics" and kept repeating "This is what I'm talking about Motherf***ers!"

I have to admit, I love it when KG goes bonkers, but tonight I found it a little tough to swallow. It seemed to me that his actions were a little insulting to the Wolves organization. The way he clearly pointed out "Celtics" over and over again made it appear that he was driving home the message that the C's are so much better than the Timberwolves. 

Trying to take a more objective look, Garnett was at home and was celebrating in front of the Boston fans. His actions could just be his way of saying "I'm happy to be here, to be a part of this organization, etc." But in the back of my mind, it still just seemed like there was a little bit of anti-Wolves sentiment there as well.  I've seen him do the jersey pop before, but this one just seemed a little more enthusiastic, a little longer, and thus, a little more deliberate.

Trust me, KG has every reason to want to stick it to McHale, Taylor, and whoever else put him through twelve years of hell with their bad management decisions. I would just like to think that Kevin would also remember that there's thousands and thousands of Timberwolves fans who still support him just as strongly as ever.  We treat him as if he were still one of our own.  When he went down in the 4th quarter with the abdominal strain, it never crossed my mind to think "Yes!  We have a better shot of winning!".  Instead, I was annoyed with the Wolves as if they'd just injured one of their own teammates.

Through location, loyalty, or a twisted gluttony for punishment, we're all still following and supporting the Wolves in Garnett's absence.  Because of that, any action he does to insult the organization can be taken as an insult to us.  Truth be told, as much as I consider him to still be "one of us", he's really not.  The fans on this site and I can take our shots at the team because it's "our" team.  Anything negative we say is out of love coupled with frustration, and at the end of the day we still bleed for this organziation.  Garnett doesn't have that relationship any more and every move he made last night was going to come under major scrutiny.  I just wish he'd been a litte more careful, and, without sounding like a total wuss, a little more sensitive to the people he left behind. 

Again, the game was in Boston and he was celebrating with the Boston fans.  It's not far-fetched to think that he got caught up in the moment and forgot about the thousands in the Midwest who were watching him over the television.  After twelve seasons of doing the incredible for us, I'm more than willing to give KG a pass on this one.  I just seriously hope we don't see anything similar when the Ticket comes back to the Target Center, because that would simply be inexcusable.

My final word of advice to KG would be this - if you're going to pull out a WWF move on February 8th, make it this one:  Act like you're going to run up to Al Jefferson and clock him in the face, and then instead raise his arm into the air as a sign of solidarity with your long-time fans and the players they now support in your absence. 

Trust me, the crowd will love it!

This one hurts quite a bit, doesn’t it?

I know it’s rather remarkable that the Wolves (7-35) were even competitive with the Celtics (34-7) tonight.  It’s even more remarkable that they had a great opportunity to win the game, and should have emerged with the win.  But man, our squad was in the driver’s seat with 23 seconds remaining, and they frankly handed this game away. 

The play that’s sure to generate much discussion is the Corey Brewer inbound sequence, as Brew was nailed for a five-second violation.  For starters, Brewer needed to call a timeout, since absolutely no one was open…Corey just lacked awareness on that play.  If you’re inbounding the ball, you need to be counting down from five to zero in your head.  And secondly, the inbound play itself was ridiculous…again, Corey had no options because everyone was covered.  Witt’s inbound play failed to free anyone up.

And here’s what is even more insane: On the next inbound play, the EXACT SAME THING happened.  Marko had no options, and was forced to call a timeout.  It’s inexcusable that inbound plays, of all things, played an instrumental role in deciding this game.  Truly a case of the Wolves snatching defeat from the hands of victory.

Witt had Marko and Bassy make the final inbounds passes of the game…problem is, that decision was too little, too late.  I must question Wittman giving inbound duties to a rookie at a critical juncture of the game—I’m a Corey Brewer rube, but there are definitely more reliable passers on this team.  Of course, hindsight is 20/20.

With their meltdown in the final 40 seconds or so, the Wolves dropped an extremely winnable game.  But even though the ending was a crushing one, this team still deserves major credit…they fought valiantly, and we can’t forget about the intensity and passion they displayed for virtually the entire game.

(Click "Read More" to continue) 

 

It's Mailbag time again...

I'm running the second TWolvesblog Open Mailbag for anyone that is interested in sending any questions and/or thoughts, and I'll anwer them next week.  Heck, I promise that I'll even answer them all... I'm like an Equal Opportunity Employer.

There's tons of things to talk about at this point in the season:  The Wolves roster, our awesome record, the Head Coach/Front Office situation, any previous or upcoming games, what you like or don't like... the possabilities are endless!

Or you can just email me and tell me that I suck.  It's all good.

Email all inquiries/Mail Bag questions/comments/hate mail to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

A lot to talk about from this game, so let's get going...

I've been constantly complaining about effort lately.  Too often, the Wolves have looked like a team that just doesn't care...a team that isn't buying whatever its coach is selling.  But tonight, I can't justify criticizing them for a lack of effort, because our guys played a (mostly) gutsy game.  For once, they displayed some heart.

There are a few things you need to do to beat the Denver Nuggets.  First, shoot the ball well...Denver loves to push the ball in transition off of missed shots, so shoot a high percentage from the field, and the Nugg's fast break opportunities will be very limited. 

Then, you've gotta get back on defense.  Again, Denver will make you pay on the fast break if your transition defense is sluggish. 

And finally, you must control the tempo of the game, and force Denver to play your style of basketball...few teams can keep up with the Nuggets in a run-and-gun battle (certainly not the Wolves, at least).

With the exception of the much of the first quarter and part of the second, the Wolves were generally successful with all of those tasks.  They shot 53% from the floor for the game, and just as important, they shot 10-22 from beyond the arc--mainly thanks to hot long-range shooting from Antoine and Rashad. 

And I could definitely sense some frustration from Denver because of the Wolves' hot shooting...it limited opportunities in transition for Iverson and Carmello, and if you can stop those two from getting easy baskets on the break, you've got a great chance to beat the Nuggets.

(Click "Read More" to continue) 

T-Wolves -vs- Houston Rockets (1.11.08)

BOXSCORE: 

http://www.nba.com/games/20080111/MINHOU/boxscore.html
  

POSTGAME PODCAST:

http://www.TimberwolvesToday.com

I’m not gonna lie, after the game started to get out of hand I may have started to lose a little interest.  Can you blame me though?  Can you blame anyone?  It was a blowout approximately halfway through the second quarter.  It was simply “more of the same” that we’ve been accustomed to seeing so far this entire season.  The win versus the Miami Heat was simply an apparition.  I suspected that the win on Tuesday didn’t really mean much, but I didn’t want to rain on the proverbial parade and ruin something positive for any remaining fans.  I’m not sure if it would be worse to be a Heat or Wolves fan at this point in the season.  Shaq is out (again) and Dwayne Wade is perpetually injured.   I mean, being resorted to cheering for super starters Ricky Davis and Mark Blount?  I’d rather scratch out my eyeballs.  They don’t have much for youngsters other than Wade, and have virtually no depth.  Then again, they still do have 3 more wins than us.  It’s a toss up I guess.

 When the Wolves are letting guys like Luis Scola and Carl Landry to run roughshod in the paint, you know it is gonna be a l o n g night.  Houston was hustling for lose balls and displaying far more energy than the Wolves, despite the fact that we were coming off the “big win” against the Miami Heat on Tuesday.  Also, the Wolves had 3 days off and quite frankly, there is no excuse for coming out for a game so flat, dull, inconsistent, and lifeless.  The Wolves put forth a putrid effort and it was quite an embarrassing performance.  It’s no wonder we were down 30+ points for a large part of the game.  I was more bored watching this game than Michael Jackson at an all girl keg party.  Heck, I was more bored than Elton John in the Playboy Mansion.  I was even more bored than John Amaechi at the… ok, you get the point.

(Click "Read More..." for thoughts and analysis.)

THE CASE FOR TURBO

If you attend Wolves games and can hear anything shouted from Section 124, you may hear the frequent encouragement for a certain Wolves player a few of us like to call "Turbo".  Some coworkers of mine who happen to be fans of the 1980s break-dancing movie Breakin' noticed that a certain rookie Timberwolf has an uncanny resemblance to the character "Turbo".  As we all have season tickets, we have started vocally supporting the nickname.  In our section, the nickname is starting to stick.  At the Gameworks ticket-holder event, my coworker informed the player of his resemblence.  The response - "Breakin', eh?  I might have to check that one out."  I now present the evidence to you (and invite you to see this):

Here's Turbo:

If you need further evidence, please click read ahead.

Editor’s Note:  This article was written before last night’s 101-91 victory over the Miami Heat.  Slight edits/adjustments have been made to compensate.


      I’ve recently found it harder and harder to collect my thoughts and objectively attempt to cover a team that displays such a putrid effort on a nightly basis.  In fact, the most consistent thing about this 5-29 Wolves squad is our glaring lack of desire and heart out on the court on a daily basis.  Dwane Casey may have been fired last year for being too “inconsistent”; but I’m not sure Glen Taylor & Company were bargaining for a coach that is consistently bad, which is what we’ve got in Randy Wittman.  Then again, they are all buddies so who really knows what's going on. 

    I’m not at the stage where I’m apathetic enough to no longer care, and I’m also not yet extremely angry about what’s going on during the games.  It’s true that watching the Wolves has been pretty depressing of late, but going into the season I expected a heavy dose of losing.  Anyone that thought we wouldn’t lose a majority of our games was merely kidding themselves, or a tad bit delusional.  My contention is that I did not think this team would accept losing to the degree that has been happening lately.  Most nights the Wolves are a sad, sorry lot that looks like they’ve already managed to lose the game before tip-off.  It does not appear that our team is adequately prepared heading into games, nor do they have competent leadership; be it on the court or at the top of the organization.  When it comes down to it, I’m a die hard fan that will support this club to the bitter end, but if the Timberwolves Organization does not start turning things around soon, they will find themselves losing the attention and financial support of a large group of the fair-weather fans.  I’m not using “fair-weather fans” in a derogatory way, but every sports team has its fans that support the team when they are winning, and appear to care a bit less when things are not going so well.  From what Glen Taylor would like us to believe regarding his financial situation of owning the T-Wolves; losing any financial support is not an option he can readily or easily afford.  Thus, the onus is on Glen Taylor and his cherry picked Front Office to turn this club around, before things become completely unpalatable to the vast majority of Minnesotans.

(Click "Read More..." for the article in it's entirety)

I haven't been getting enough sleep lately.  I've been really busy over the past week, I've been catching up on some late-night TV viewing (Conan rules!), and -- oh yeah -- I LOVE caffeine.  So, with all that in mind, I haven't exactly been getting my recommended amount of nightly sleep.

Thank God for the Wolves -- they're a helluva sleep aid.  Today's game was a snoozer from start to finish, with the Wolves only briefly displaying any life.  Remember when we were all talking about how fun this team would be to watch?  Well, in reality, they've been exceptionally boring.

At one point this season, the Wolves were actually competitive. They weren't winning, but they'd be in the ballgame right down to the wire.  Lately, though, we've been seeing more and more games that have been decided by halftime.

And today's game was indeed over by the end of the second quarter.  Dallas came out with greater intensity than the Wolves did, made the all-important hustle plays, and most importantly, they actually played defense.

Here's the bright spot of the game: Quick Change performed at halftime.  Otherwise, the suckers who actually paid money to see today's game (myself included) were absolutely robbed.  A waste of money.

A couple things from today's game: This team doesn't hustle, they don't play hard on defense, and they're completely one-dimensional on offense. 

Four fast break points for the Wolves.  Prior to this season, we envisioned a team that would play fast-paced and up-tempo on offense, using their youth and energy to their advantage.  That hasn't happened.  This team doesn't push the tempo, and often gets bogged down in sluggish halfcourt sets.

Now, that wouldn't be the absolute end of the world if we actually had serviceable perimeter shooting.  But we don't.  Antoine Walker is the only person on this team who hits the three with any regularity (and even 'Toine's often inconsistent from behind the arc) -- other than him, quality perimeter shooters are few and far between on this roster (and I even hesitate to classify 'Toine as a "quality" perimeter shooter..."streaky" is perhaps the better word).

The defensive effort from the Wolves was nothing short of laughable.  When you're playing a team like the Mavericks, you need energy and intensity on defense -- give Dallas uncontested shots, and they'll kill you.  The Wolves must not have gotten the memo.

The matchups with Dirk weren't exactly favorable.  Neither Al nor Craig match up well with Dirk, and that was painfully obvious during the game...Nowitzki had numerous uncontested jumpers, and he simply doesn't miss when defenders fail to get a hand in his face.

On the perimeter, the Wolves' defense couldn't have been much worse.  Dallas' guards were constantly able to penetrate against our guards, who played with no energy on the defensive end and simply weren't moving their feet.  Look at the stats: Bassy finished the game with three fouls, while Jaric picked up another three and McCants had four.  Again, that's just evidence of this team playing defense with their hands, while failing to get a body on the Mavs guards.  Don't call it poor defensive technique...call it poor effort.

Our bigs deserve plenty of blame on the defensive end, as well.  As I mentioned, Dallas maintained a huge advantage on the offensive boards, simply because they hustled and we didn't.  That's a simplistic statement, but really, it doesn't need to be any more complicated than that...Dallas hustled, and the Wolves didn't.  And it's been getting increasingly common to see the Wolves get out-hustled.

I fully believe that this team quit on Wittman today.  It's been said that the NBA is a game of momentum, a game of runs...well, the Wolves didn't really make a run, and they never had much momentum (they showed a little life in the second quarter, but beyond that, Dallas dominated this game).

I'm not upset because they lost to Dallas.  That was expected.  It's that the Mavericks displayed more hustle, more intensity on the defensive end, more energy.

It's one thing to play a hard-fought game, and come up empty.  It's another to not even care.