Tonight the Wolves take it to Portland, where their excellent "pack it in, they will cool off at some point" defensive strategy will hopefully limit Matthews and Fernandez to a combined 37 threes in the first half.

Rather than hash out a boring game preview for a team we have played twice already this year, I thought I'd pose 5 things to think about over the next week and beyond as it pertains to the Wolves.

1. Has the recent emphasis on ball movement with Beasley out been a positive thing for the team? I think we all know Beasley is essential to this team, but over the past 2 games I have seen much better execution and a solid scoring attack within the flow of the offense. Last year we loathed about how Al Jefferson, while putting up numbers, would put a wrench right into the flow of things and stagnate our offense. Is this trend developing with Beasley? It doesn't take a rocket scientist nor a statisctician to see and understand how much better the Wolves play when Mike moves the ball and doesn't force it. Assuming Beasley is out tonight and perhaps Wednesday vs. LAC before a 5 day rest, it would be noteworthy if the Wolves win one or at least play tight against 2 surging teams. It could be more indicitive than we thought, at least short term.

2. Brewer in the starting lineup; and Brewer being here long term. Look, it again didn't take a brilliant wizard to notice how much better the Wolves played in the 2nd half the last time these 2 teams met with Brewer taking Wes' minutes. Brewer's energy when he plays big minutes is simply tough to top. With that said, Brew is a free agent and we have a decision to make on his future. I think his impact here has been a bit under-appreciated and I'm not sure Wes can top his production on both ends of the floor unless he (Edit: I intially had "she" written here as a typo. Thought about keeping it as it seems appropriate of late) expands his game beyond spot up and one-dribble jump shots and blown defensive assignments.

It's easy to peg Wes as a long term wing simply because he was once the 4th pick in a (historically bad) draft. Irrational draft pick fetish syndrome strikes again. But ask yourself, between Wes and Brewer, who's impact and style of play fits the bill for us long term?  Obviously no decisions can be made on this today, but think of this in terms of categories: On offense Wes will probably never be a high scorer for us, nor will he need to be so let's weigh this factor a bit less than defense. However, Wes is obviously a better shooter and off the dribble it is about even. On defense, Brewer takes the nod most of the time, but Wes has potential. On fast breaks and in transition I will call a draw.  BB IQ and intangibles go to Brewer. You get the idea. So, in Wes' likely role (modest scoring, defensive-minded, athletic wing player), is he the best fit based on his strengths? Or is this another classic Rhombus example of forcing a player to be something they just aren't? Can Wes expand his defensive game to Brewer levels, consistently pissing off the likes of Wes Matthews and Manu, and at the same time, improve his offense beyond Kyle Korver levels? Let's hope so, and he certainly deserves more opportunity to try.

3. Our 2nd unit. We are getting murdered off the bench due to Pekovic's continued idiot maneuvers, Flynn being amongst the worst players in the league, inconsistent shooting/questionable shot selection from Martell and Tolliver, and several poor defensive decisions mixed in. Would bringing Beasley off the bench be a good move to bolster our 2nd unit? Player/personality wise it would be a tough pill for Mike to swallow but I have to imagine the impact would be noticeable. This could also probably be fixed simply by having one of Love/Beasley on the floor at all times and with simple, intelligent rotations where we keep scorers on the floor.

4. Ridnour. Many ripped on him to no end earlier this year, but man is he playing extremely well for us lately. Good work, Michael Cera. Even if Flynn weren't playing like garbage, it would be very difficult for him to take Luke's starting job. And as a fan-base, I hope that after 4 years of this level of play we are past the "not playing vets b/c they take minutes away from the young guys" concept. So, my question: would you have rather kept Sessions, or do you like Luke's all around fast paced game and deadeye shooting better? 

5. The D-League. Why have we not sent Lazar down to get some burn? Or Pekovic for that matter? Lazar has been pretty bad thus far even when he plays, why not get him some reps in Sioux Falls? Makes absolutely no sense to me. Oh, well.

Enjoy the game tonight and let's hope Brewer can shut down Wesley "Dave" Matthews and Rudy Fail-nandez early on to keep us in it. This Portland team is overachieving like no one's business and what better way for them to lose momentum than a loss at home? One last thought: keep an eye on the Portland/Memphis footrace. It is in our best interest to beat Portland if we want to get our top 14 protected draft pick from the Grizzlies this year. If Memphis makes the playoffs, we get it. If Portland does, that likely puts Memphis in the lottery and delays our pick to next year (which may also be a good thing)

For those of you fortunate to watch our Timberwolves play basketball last night, you saw a few things we haven't seen much of lately:

1. Closing out a team in the fourth quarter

2. Ball movement

3. A little defense

4. Winning (ten wins!)

Now, I'm not going to sit here and rant and rave about how incredible the team was at these different things, but there were some fun signs against a decidedly poor Eastern Conference team that's beed wracked with injury (Blatche, Howard, ) and is dealing with new pieces after the Arenas trade. All that aside, fun night. I was at the game compliments of a lovely lady on the Timberwolves staff who reached out and came through with sweet seats, so that was nice too. A couple other things: I forgot Randy WIttman and Sam Cassell were on staff with Flip's Wizards. Weird seeing all of them. Also, Flip has been doing some spray tan or something... dude looks orange.

On to the game!

The first quarter went the way a lot of our first quarters go. Good energy, kinda flaily at times. Kevin "The Optometrist" Love was pretty electric, scoring 14 of his 21 first-half points in the frame. Loved the high screen where instead of rolling to the basket, he pops out to the top of the key and receives a pass from the driving guard. It must be maddening to opposing big men to guard a guy like Love who has such excellent range.You think he's going to dive toward the basket, so you're sagging into the lane, but then he's standing out top. Swish!

Flip Saunders returns to the Twin Cities with the battle of two really crappy teams tonight at Target Center.  The Wolves most likely without Michael Beasley, and the Wizards likely without Josh Howard and Andre Blatche.  Also, the Wizards are STILL winless on the road this season at 0-18.  The Wolves are favored, but I could see us losing (sigh.)  Especially against a healthy John Wall.

It's never too late to get really cheap tickets and come join some of us fellow TWB'ers at Target center.  Check out some great deals via TWolvesBlog's partnership with TipIQ.

The TWB Forums are hopping with Wolves and sports discussion, including a possible imminent deal with the Knicks for Anthony Randolph?  Low risk, high potential reward.  Make it happen Kahn!

Game tips tonight at 7PM.  Go Wolves.

For those of you that may have missed it, here is the drama from last night where official Kenny Mauer T's us up 5 times in 10 seconds, including two players at the same time.  Brewer, Darko, Love, and Rambis (ejected) where the victims. Talk about not being a T-Wolves homer.

Extra credit to Coach Darrell Rhombus at the 1:18 mark.  The obscenity was enjoyable.

And here's a "funny" quote from Mr. Mauer last week in SLAM magazine:

That’s a sentiment echoed by many of Olesiak’s peers. Ken Mauer, who’s entering his 25th season as an NBA referee, says finding resolution to a confrontation before it reaches the ‘technical’ stage is paramount. "If it’s something where I can say to the player before he overreacts, ‘Talk to me, c’mon, talk to me,’ now we’re talking," Mauer says at the NBA referees’ annual meeting in Jersey City, NJ, in mid-September. "I avoid an overreaction; therefore, it didn’t escalate."

Note: This article was written by TWB Forum member, wolfenstein.

After watching last night's game against the Spurs, I need to air a few thoughts and frustrations about our team and what we are trying to do. Rather than ranting about our team as a whole, I want to address specific players individually, because only then can we attempt to bring some semblance of order out of the murky chaos that is our game day roster.

In the interest of clarity, I will first voice my opinion on whether that player should be played or not, because a certain portion of our futility is directly caused by playing guys who, at this point, have no business being on an NBA court if we want to win. I'll follow with constructive criticism of their play, strengths and weaknesses, etc.

I realize this is a bit presumptuous of me, but I've been out of coaching for a few years and the bug just gets to me- I can't watch a team this much without wanting to provide feedback.

That said, thanks to CW and the rest for providing the forum where we can sound off like this. Without further delay...

The Starters

Ridnour: Keep playing him. In spite of my being totally against it earlier in the year, he's been playing really well lately, except at the end of games where his decision making has still been extremely poor... Would ideally be a second stringer and a solid one at that. Needs to improve shot selection and defense.

Brewer: Keep playing him, although ideally he would keep his confidence but give us great minutes off the bench. Unless he plays within his offensive limits a little better, it's tough to see him starting on a winning team. That said, he has a competitive streak that I like, has shown great energy, and his quickness and length make him a good defender even when his fundamentals are off. Needs to limit what he's trying to do offensively: shoot the spot up shot, slash when he gets the ball with a lane to the basket, or one dribble jumper. His one on one skills with a set defender just aren't his strength. Needs to keep his center of gravity on top of his feet at all times on defense (no reaching, no leaning, etc.).

Beasley: Obviously keep playing him. Like Corey, he is one of the few guys on the team with a "win at all costs" competitive mentality. Offensively he's been playing well lately and sharing the ball. Defensively he needs to extend his arms to take up more space both on and off the ball. He could be a much better help side defender, as well as on the ball defender, if he would take advantage of his wingspan. See the ball and the man at all times. Communicate to your teammates. He would do well to watch some KG film from the Celtics' championship season to see what he should be trying to do defensively for this team.

Love: Again, obviously keep playing him. Great producer. Don't really need to say anything about his rebounding, or shooting, except that he needs to chin the ball in the post as well as he does on rebounds. Defensively, he needs to hedge on screens, trap the ball, and then recover quickly to his man or to the rotation. When his man goes to screen he needs to turn the "nimble" switch on and play lighter on his toes (see later notes on Tolliver). Being lighter on his toes on defense would help his help side defense as well, although at times he does a great job by stepping in and taking the charge.

Darko: Needs to play, but should have his minutes reduced in favor of Tolliver or using Love at Center in a small ball line up, until Darko can consistently demonstrate the ability to avoid The Void (self-abusive Darko mode). Needs to work on free throw shooting, face up play, and, like Love, chinning the ball in the post so it doesn't get stripped. Darko also needs to work on his mental toughness so he doesn't enter The Void every time he makes a small mistake or gets a bad bounce. He allows a lot of very easy mistakes to ruin entire games or large stretches of games for him. Having older brothers beat you up or being forced to shovel snow are good ways to bolster mental toughness, but I would have thought growing up in a war-torn country would also be good for this, but...? I guess Peko could qualify as a big brother figure for Darko, I advocate Peko bullying Darko relentlessly until Darko learns to stand up for himself and be a man. Finally, Darko also needs to watch Anthony Tolliver play pick and roll defense. He gives up silly fouls trying to do the right thing, but doing it the wrong way or, more specifically, with the wrong level of effort and intensity. It is an art, but one that we desperately need Darko to acquire. I have more thoughts on this at the bottom of the page.

Come check us out in the TWolves Blog Forums, as Forum member "Flash" has just posted the voting results of all the 2010 Year End Recognition Awards.  This was a very scientific study, as voted upon by our fellow TWB forum members. 

Who's the Rookie of the Year? Most Improved? The Most Negative and Most Entertaining? Who has the Best Avatar? Biggest Homer?  Who's the Nicest?  And find out who is the TWB MVP... among many other categories!

Check it out, the results may shock and/or amaze!*

*Except in the case of forum member "Roundhouse."

Our 9-29 TWolves take on the 31-6 Spurs Tuesday night at Target Center, for the fourth and final time this season.  We've lost the first three games by only a combined 13 points, but have blown 15+ point leads on multiple occasions.  I believe the Wolves had a 9 point lead Sunday before finally succombing in San Antonio, but of course the game wasn't on TV so who knows for sure.

Word on the street is that Beasley is going to try to play on his recently re-aggravated ankle injury, so that should help us if he's ok.  Personally, why risk it?  I'd sit him out a few games and let him get it right.  No sense rushing him back in this wasted season.

Get the ball to Darko and KLove, it's our only chance.  We can hang with these guys in an up-tempo game.

Tons of TWolves/NBA/Other sport discussion in the TWolves Blog Forums!  Check it out for some great convo.

Lastly, but definitely not leastly (just made that word up?), I did another Gameday Q&A with Jeff from the always spectacular Project Spurs.  Check out my responses to his questions over at PS, and please click "Read More" below to continue on with Jeff's responses to my questions...

As many readers have started figuring out, TWB has a new comments system. As such, we will be putting a game post on the front page before every game to centralize any talk. The forums will continue to be active during this time as well for those who prefer that. 

Wolves are in San Antonio and at their lowest point of the season. Tonight might not be pretty but at some point the Wolves' woes have to cease, right? 

A few things to think about during tonight's game if the play becomes unwatchable:

-Brewer is getting the start tonight. Sad to see Wes head to the bench, but I think shaking things up at this point in the season may prove dividends. Hopefully Rambis doesn't continue to have his wings needlessly double down low leaving Manu and others open tonight. I mean, how rarely does the wing help even add anything significant to the post defense? It is so easy for any post player with half a brain to kick out to an open man, especially when the wing defender is waddling down nanchalantly directly into the post player's field of vision. Mind boggling, this strategy is. Darrell Rhombus, man of action.

-The Nets apparently want the Wolves to be involved in a potential deal for Melo. Our role would be sending out a first round pick AND absorbing Troy "Mutant Macaulay Culkin"  Murphy's contract according to NJ. Yeah.....that will happen. WTF?, really? Why does it seem like Kahn would do this?

Observe:

-The Wolves are dangling Flynn and allegedly offered him and fluff to Houston for Aaron Brooks. Not surprisingly, conversations didn't get far. I mentioned this in the forums, but Flynn is playing epically awful. This is obvious. With that said, I wish Wolves fandom was supporting our 6th pick a little bit better. He has basketball ability. His issues are a combination of injury, a dreadful coach destroying his confidence, limited playing time and a leesh the size of Darko's tampon string. Let's give the kid a chance before trading him for 2 second round picks. 

2 consecutive games against the Spurs. Should be a hoot of an early week.

Wolves versus Blazers just got under way.  Only Love and Beasley shooting so far.  Enjoy. 

Loss to the Bobcats edition

TWolves Blog Forum Game Thread Here

Wolves Lose to Charlotte Bobcats 108-105 Boxscore

Now that was draining loss.  Not just how it went down but coupled with the growing stack of similar games this 4th quarter collapse theme would be tired... if it weren't so true.  

Flynn played all of the 4th quarter and little to none of OT.  It is hard to remember ever seeing a situation like that.  I felt like he was moving faster in this game than we've seen him recently.  Was this a trade showcase?  My guess is we shall soon see.  

You can't put this loss on the officials but the preposterous offensive foul that negated an AND 1 which turned into a 3 the other way to Augustin in OT was devastating.   Love and Beasley kept this ship from sinking even after that.  Had one other player besides them done anything put turn the ball over in the last 2 minutes of regulation and Over Time the Wolves would have won that game.  

It'd be great if could find a way to get Love outside shots at the end of games.  As good as Beasley is in those situations he had way too many possessions of him going it alone at the end of the game.   Wes should have been subbed for Martell in OT because he clearly wasn't prepared to shoot.  

Thoughts?  

Please click "Read More" for College Wolf's game reaction...