It was a long, strange evening at Target Center.  Coach Pops getting tee'd up, Madsen annoying the crap out of the great Tim Duncan, the refs making their presence known, the Wolves getting outscored by 21 in the fourth quarter.  Needless to say, it was a wild one.

Let's start with the officiating.  In a word, it was horrible.  I'm not usually big on conspiracy theories, but the officiating helped the Spurs a whole lot more than it helped the Wolves.  Yeah, there were plenty of iffy calls and non-calls on both sides, but you can't tell me that the officiating didn't prove to be an advantage for San Antonio.

I lost count of the times that Wittman simply threw his arms up in sheer awe of the officiating that was taking place.  It was pure exasperation on Witt's part.  The officiating was clearly discouraging for the Pups, and there just wasn't much he could do about it.

No, the officials didn't decide this one.  That's not reasonable to suggest.  They did, however, dictate the flow of the game.

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I want to start this by saying that I rooted heavily for the Wovles to draft Corey Brewer.  From the beginning of the SEC tournatment last year, I thought Corey Brewer could be a Josh Howard-type player with potential to be even more (honestly, during the NCAA I was thinking his game resembled Scottie Pippen).  I was at a Buffalo Wild Wings with my buddy Benny Gunz watching the draft.  When Yi was taken with the 6th pick, I was pumped because I knew we would take Brewer.  (That's actually a lie.  Part of me was terrified that we were going to take Spencer Hawes).  Sure enough, we did.  The Buffalo Wild Wings went crazy with applause.

What is my opinion on Brewer now?  Honestly, it's still the same.  I still think he can be a good player in this league with time.  This is why, without making it an insult to Brewer, I think the organization should send him to the NBA Development League.

First thing's first.  I did not realize how thin Brewer was.  When I first saw him in the preseason, I thought he looked thinner than the kids in the "Well this is Christmas" Christian Children's Fund commercials.  Did he look that thin in the NCAA tournament?  Probably not because he was up against 18-22 year olds.  Second, when you draft a player in the first round on talent and, in Brewer's case, speed and defensive ability while knowing the offensive skill set is a work in progress, that's what you get.  Brewer has height and the speed to guard a lot of people in this league, but his offensive skill set is still raw.  At Florida, he got a ton of open looks and on-on-one situations because of how dangerous every player was on that team from 1-8.  Obviously, that's not the case with the Wolves.  However, the three glaring holes in his offensive game are ball handling (which inhibits his ability to get to the hole), consistent jump shooting and confidence.  His passing skills are actually more mature than I thought, but given the style of play at Florida, I'm not surprised.

The team can't expect him to develop playing him 20 minutes one night, 0 the next, then 9 after that.  Conversely, with his game the way it is right now, Brewer can't reasonably expect a spot in an 8 or 9 man rotation, especially on a team congested with shooting guard/small forward tweeners.  However, he plays superior defense in almost all respects to his counterparts on this team (save Gomes if matched up on a more physical player) and the skills he needs to work on can be developed (hopefully?). 

So why not send him to the Development League?  Isn't that what it was made for?  The kid needs minutes and he needs them in games.  I've never seen a NBA DL game and I don't know what the rosters are like, but I'm assuming the players are either (a) NBA-level talents that are either too raw or lack the drive to elevate their games, or (b) hard-working players trying their asses off to make their dream of playing in the NBA come true.  Either way, Brewer doesn't need the Bruce Bowens or Ron Artests of the world guarding him in order to work on ball handling, jump shooting, and, most importantly, confidence, but he does need work on those skills.

I also think it would set excellent precedent for the league.  Has anyone ever sent a lottery pick down to the NBA DL?  Is Gerald Green (18th pick) the highest to ever get sent there?  I think too many GMs would be afraid that sending a lottery player down would be similar to admitting that the player is a bust.  But why is this the case?  When you only play 8-9 players a game, how can you expect a young, raw talent like Brewer to get any better.  Like I said earlier, Brewer needs minutes, but a coach needs to put in lineups that can win a game.  As much as I don't like the current coach, he's not making mistake by benching Brewer, and Brewer cannot complain about his minutes with the level of contribution he makes right now.  Additionally, if a player is going to be a bust, won't you know for sure if he can't hack it in the NBA DL?

In short, I think it's time to use the NBA DL for what it is - player development.

T-Wolves -vs- Dallas Mavericks (11.28.07)

 

BOXSCORE: 

http://www.nba.com/games/20071128/MINDAL/boxscore.html

 

 I’ll probably just more or less jump right into this one since it was an away game.  I don’t really have too much to build up towards as an introduction.  I would like to add that DVR + Couch + Beverage makes for a pretty comfortable viewing experience. 

As some of you may know, the Mavs were coming off a three game losing streak and a loss at home to the Wizards last game.  Could the Wolves take advantage of this?  Did we catch them at the right time?  For anyone interested, the Wolves have not won two games in a row since February 14th of last year, after beating Boston and the Nuggets.  My guess in the forum discussion thread was that tonight would not be the night to start another such streak.  The Wolves played them close and mounted a spirited comeback after being down 20 points in the third quarter.  Did they have what it takes to knock of Dallas?

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I reserve the right to end this live blog early in case of a blowout...  Anyways, glad you're here for tonight's game.

First Quarter:

*Linkin Park's "Bleed it Out" = cool song.  Wish they'd play it at Target Center.  Pete, meanwhile, states the obvious in his keys to the game...he makes the shocking revelation that the Wolves must contain Chris Paul.

*I've been to New Orleans several times, and I'd wager that their arena is one of the more ugly ones in the NBA.  Great city, though...unbelievable food.  Definitely can't wait to go back there. 

*Yawn.  Another great up and under by Big Al.

*The Hornets fans stand until their squad scores?  That's kinda stupid.

*Madsen's starting again.  Hmm...while I question Wittman's lineup, the Hornets continue to struggle from the field.  The few fans who showed up to New Orleans Arena remain standing, two minutes into the game.

 *Ah, Gomsey steps out.  Gotta limit those turnovers tonight.

*Pete's right about Rashad...he needs easy baskets to get going.  A streaky guy like him needs to get the confidence level up early with a few easy looks.

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Join me tonight, as I the live blog the Wolves/Hornets game (the game starts at 7:00 CST, and is on FSN). Seeing as the Wolves lost to New Orleans by 18 with Chris Paul sidelined, I don't see us having any shot tonight against a Hornets team with Paul in the lineup.  But hey, that's why they play the game.

Unless you attended tonight's game, you didn't see it (it wasn't even shown on NBA League Pass).  And for those of you who missed the game...well, consider yourselves lucky.  There's no doubt about it- this was the ugliest game of the season.

It all started well.  The Wolves were red hot in the first half- McCants' jumper was dropping once again, Big Al was dominating the low block, and Antoine Walker continued to drain the triples while also penetrating and getting some easy baskets.  For much of the first half, the Wolves' field goal percentage hovered in the 65%-70% range...so needless to say, it was a dominant opening 24 minutes for our squad. 

And I was definitely impressed.  On the latter part of a back-to-back, it's unusual to see a team display the intensity that the Wolves did in the first half.  Atlanta looked flat on defense, and the Wolves responded by thoroughly dominating the interior.  Big Al was nasty...his usual plethora of post moves was on full display for the Target Center crowd, and he was even showing some confidence in his jumper (and a consistent jumper, I think, is one of his last remaining hurdles for becoming a truly unstoppable force in the paint).

Also, gotta say that there was great ball movement in the opening two quarters.  Too often, as of late, the half court sets have gotten sluggish, and the offense has devolved into isolating McCants, Jaric, or whoever.  And that's usually resulted in missed jumper after missed jumper.  In the first half, though, there was a lack of "black holes" on offense, and the Wolves entered the locker room with 63 points largely because of that. 

The Wolves came at the Hawks with a plethora of weapons, and Atlanta had no answer.  From Jaric to McCants to Jefferson to Walker, our squad couldn't have played much better in the first half.

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I know I haven't written about the Wolves much lately, but I kind of take the stance of "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all" when it comes to my teams.  Yes, there are several Wolves players who are working their butts off and showing a level of dedication you can't help but tip your hat to, but overall, there's a whole lot of issues this team has to deal with and I just don't feel like getting into them right now. 

So on a brighter note...  Kevin Garnett... Wow!  The moment you start feeling glum after checking out the Wolves standings at 1-10, just take a peek over to the Easter Conference and check out the Celtics flying high at 11-1!  If that doesn't put at least a smirk on your face, you obviously didn't live through the KG era in Minnesota. Truth be told, I'd gladly see the Wolves go 8-74, if the C's go 74-8.  That might not be the politically correct thing to bring up, but the Wolves could use a good draft pick, and it would be incredibly satisfying to watch Kevin have that kind of success. 

Let me tell you something, if you haven't ordered NBA League Pass yet, you're doing yourself a huge disservice.  For example, tonight I got to watch KG put up 23, 11, and 5. To top it off, the Celtics were down 93-95 with 4.7 seconds to go and Charlotte was inbounding on the Celtics side of the court.  What happens?  Eddie House knocks away Jason Richardson's inbounds pass, Pierce comes up with the ball and has the presence of mind to find a wide open Ray Allen, who drains a three at the buzzer!  Watching KG leap through the air, charge down the court, and jump into a pile-on full of joy is something I haven't seen in a good four seasons.  After enduring the past three years, it did me a whole lot of good to see that. 

For several months after the trade, I kind of had the "happy for KG, but sad that he's not here" vibe going on.  That's completely gone now.  I'm just happy for KG and I'm happy for myself because I get to see him win.  I don't care that he's not doing it in a Wolves jersey.  Nights like tonight just weren't going to happen for him here, and nights like tonight make that 1-10 over in the standing for the T-Wolves much, much less painful.  In many ways we're all better off.  Garnett gets to be relevant again and possibly win a title.  The Wolves get a chance to rebuild and maybe draft another superstar this spring.  And us, we get to experience both of those things at the same time...  If you've got League Pass, that is.

So seriously, get League Pass.  The Timberwolves are 1-10, and it's much cheaper than a therapist. 

Well, if anything, the Wolves have kicked it up a notch in the entertainment category over the past few nights.  The Washington and New Orleans games were brutal to watch, but these last two games have been a bit more enjoyable.  They've been sloppy, but watching this team has seemed like somewhat less of a chore during this past week.

Unfortunately, though, the last two games have only been enjoyable up until the final minutes.  Then, as we've grown accustomed to, things have fallen apart for the Wolves.

In Denver, the game was lost in the final two minutes- and when things went downhill, they went downhill fast.  Missed jumper by McCants, five second violation on an inbound, missed hook shot by Al, and it was all over.  Give Denver credit...while the Wolves have had some outright late-game collapses, I'm not sure this can be categorized a "meltdown."  Sure, the Wolves missed several opportunities down the stretch to steal a win from the Nugs, but more than anything, this game was lost because Denver did a great job of taking advantage of our crunch time mishaps.  They gave us no room for error in the final two minutes.

A couple of bright spots: First, Antoine Walker.  Admittedly, I jumped on the "Antoine sucks" bandwagon earlier in the season, but he's really come on strong in the last four games.  The only thing that's been missing is the shimmy...c'mon ‘Toine, when you gonna bust out the shimmy for the Minnesota crowd?

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T-Wolves -vs- Cleveland Cavaliers (11.21.07)

 

BOXSCORE:  http://www.nba.com/games/20071121/CLEMIN/boxscore.html

TimberwolvesToday.com Recap: http://www.timberwolvestoday.com/?p=43#comments

Off to yet another game at the Target Center with Bonk.  This game was actually closer for the majority of the contest than the final score indicated, despite the fact that the Wolves were without Randy Foye, Sebastian Telfair, and Theo Ratliff.  The Cavs won handily thanks to the fourth quarter domination by the man-child Lebron.  He had 10 straight points in the last two minutes… which resulted in the 11 point victory.  I don’t think he even broke a sweat.  For the game he tallied 45 points, 8 boards, and 5 assists.  Big Al didn’t do too shabby himself, notching 30 points and 8 rebounds on 12-20 shooting.  The Wolves rallied back from about a 14 point deficit to get within 4 points in the fourth quarter, but their spirited comeback fell short. Ha, go figure.

As season ticket holders, we brought with our coupons to receive our free throw blankets and Wolves season scrapbooks.  Not as cool as last year when we could pick between jerseys, shorts, t-shirts, and bobbleheads… but better than nothing I suppose.  Next year we’ll probably get coupons for half off one food item.  The “scrapbook” is lame, and they gave us two of them.  Why?  The “blankets” are decent I guess.  However, they are paper thin and smell like mothballs.  I wouldn’t stick them in your trunk for use as emergency blankets, I can tell you that much.  If you stitched them both together and made one super season ticket holder Wolves blanket, it would probably be big enough to cover up Corey Brewer.  However, it definitely would not be big enough to keep Antoine “Mount Foodji” Walker warm.  On a side note, I may be sitting here scribing this sitting in nothing but the said blank.  Just kidding.  Maybe.

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It's been way too long since I've handed out some tips o' the hat and wags o' the finger, so here we go...

First of all, a tip o' the hat to Jeremy for his solid take on Wittman. 

A HUGE wag o' the finger to Randy Foye's knee.  Christ, what horrible news it is that he'll be out at least another three weeks.  Jaric's been playing at a fairly high level (for Jaric, that is), and Bassy's been solid at several points this season, but when I watch this team, it's impossible not to realize just how much they need Foye.

They need a reliable guy to handle the offense, someone who can take care of the ball while keeping the offense up-tempo.  They need a player who can step up in the fourth quarter, night after night.  And they desperately need someone not named Greg Buckner or Rashad McCants who can knock down some jumpers.  Those things are exactly what Foye brings to the table...and those things are what we'll have to live without for the next month or so.

The basketball gods must be punishing us or something, because this is just insult to injury.  A 1-7 start, and now this news comes out.  I hate to say it, folks, but these are gonna be a long three or four weeks- things aren't going to be getting better anytime soon.

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