Be first to comment this article

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.

(Click "Read More" to continue) 

Comments (3)

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?

(Click "Read More" to continue) 

Comments (2)

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.

(Click "Read More" to continue)

Comments (2)

Hey, at least this game mixed things up a bit.  Most of our prior games had been decided in the final 5-6 minutes...but this one was pretty much over before we even reached the fourth quarter.

In the past three games, especially, this team has gone where Rashad McCants has taken them.  In Tuesday's game against the Kings, Rashad had a dominant performance, and the Wolves earned every bit of that win.  Against the Wizards, McCants' lack of playing time in the fourth quarter helped Washington take control of the game in crunch time.  And tonight, Rashad struggled from start to finish- and the Wolves ended up getting spanked by the Hornets.

The streakiness of McCants has definitely been evident during this past week.  A few nights ago, Rashad put up a career-high 33 points and dominated the second half- tonight, though, he simply never got into a rhythm and shot a disappointing 2-8 from the field, finishing with 7 points.

Arguably, then, the biggest challenges Rashad faces are of the mental sort.  We've seen his talent on full display during several games this season, but we just haven't seen much consistency from him in his young NBA career.

Be first to comment this article

I'll keep my comments brief tonight, as I was only able to watch the second half of the game...and I think most fans will be talking about that $%^!@% fourth quarter, anyway.

The first thing that led to tonight's fourth quarter collapse was clearly the absence of Rashad McCants.  Witt seemed to want to ensure that Rashad stayed out of foul trouble as the game went down to the wire, but he was overly-cautious in keeping Rashad on the bench for the majority of the fourth quarter.  And without doubt, Witt's tentative lineup management severely hurt our chances of stopping Washington's fourth quarter run.

McCants reentered the game with roughly five minutes remaining, and by that time, the momentum was rapidly shifting in Washington's favor (thanks in large part to Gilbert Arenas, who was freakishly good in crunch time).  McCants was, once again, the best player on the floor for the Wolves...and with that in mind, you've gotta take the risk of putting him back into the game earlier in the fourth quarter, despite his foul trouble. Yeah, there was a SLIGHT chance of him fouling out, but as the only Wolf that's displayed much clutchness this year, McCants needed to get a lot more time in the fourth.

Be first to comment this article

Good evening ladies and gents...glad to have you along for tonight's live blog.

First Quarter: 

*Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs has an awesome voice for those Ford ads...and on a completely unrelated moment, click here to watch Mike try to get people to pay 25 bucks for a paper bag.  Anyways, it's game time...

*Artest's return will be the main storyline tonight...and on the other end, I love to see McCants making his way to the free throw line.  Seeing a Wolf at the charity stripe was way too rare of a sight in the first five games...I think we shot around 25 free throws on Saturday, which was a step in the right direction.  Hopefully we can continue that trend tonight.

*Brad Miller looks more like a NASCAR wannabee than a starting NBA big man. 

*To say that the crowd looks sparse would be a huge understatement. 

*Ugh...that's the Marko we know and love.  Doesn't finish the drive, and then bricks an open look.  You've gotta love Al Jefferson's pump fake...it's money every time. 

*All right, that was officially Theo's coolest block of the season. 

*Big Al's dominating...looks like he's gearing up for a huge night.  And man, that crowd looks horrible...the lower level barely looks like it's half full. 

Click "read more" to continue... 

Be first to comment this article

Be first to comment this article

Ugh.  The first four losses hurt, but this one really stings.

Out of their first five games, the Wolves easily had the best chance of winning this one.  But an embarrassing offensive meltdown in the fourth quarter doomed them to dropping this game to the Kings, and falling to 0-5.

I have no idea why this team can't get their act together in the fourth quarter.  And specifically, the last six or seven minutes of the game.  It's been the same story in virtually every game this season...the Wolves put themselves in a position to grab the win, but the offense falls flat in the final minutes.

Be first to comment this article

We've almost gotten to the point where we can script out the exact course of a Wolves game.  Our squad gets off to a hot start in the first quarter, but we put ourselves in a hole in the second and third periods.  And even though the Pups battle back in the fourth, they ultimately fall short.

The Wolves did an exceptional job of getting up and down the court to start the game, and their transition-oriented offense garnered them 28 first quarter points.

Problem is, though, that there's a fine line between an up-tempo game and a sloppy game.  The Wolves offense, in the second quarter, went from the former category to the latter category.

Comments (2)