College Wolf wrote:
The bad news about this that we played all our starters pretty big minutes, while the Nuggs starters played significantly less...

Well, I have to agree with you on the fact that our starters played a hefty amount of minutes, but there were plenty of upsides about it as well. Though I didn't get to follow this game as I usually do on ESPN GameCast, reading the recaps and box scores told me something.

The guys we wanted to play well, played well.

Sure, their stats doesn't blow me away either, but some of their lines were relieving to see (Yes I know, granted we were playing against the signiture "Zero effort" defensive plan of the Nuggets).

For example (And I'm not taking everything from these lines, just what I felt was important):

Telfair: 9 points on 4-11 shooting, 1 three-pointer, 5 assists, 3 steals, 2 fouls and 1 turnover.
Foye: 16 points on 7-13 shooting, 4 assists, 2 turnovers.
Love: 9 points on 4-9 shooting, 11 boards (But he did have an icky 5 TO's, which I imagine were on outlet attempts).
Brewer: 18 points on 6-12 shooting, 4-5 three-pointers, all in only 16 minutes.

Other little notes that I tried to analyze from what I can get now...
-Al Jeff did pretty bad, considering he played almost 33 minutes just to go 10 pts and 11 boards, with under 50% shooting. Love posted similar results in 25 minutes. However, the Al did have 3 blocks and 0 turnovers, Love had 0 blocks and 5 turnovers.
-Ahearn went off for 17 points with 3 three-pointers and 3 assists. Though there's probably not much to look into about him, it's nice to know that he still has potential to be a decent backup PG who can hit the longball and have great overall %'s.
-McCants, though he went down with an injury very early (See thread I made about it), he was a perfect 3-3, including 1 three-pointer. We've grown accustomed to seeing McCants fire away and have some pretty awful shooting nights, so this was encouraging to see. Especially coming off a rather poor shooting from the last game he played in.

Disappointing...but who knows how close it would've been w/ McCants available the whole game. Even if their backups played a bit more than ours, we can still chalk it up to the preseason, right?

College Wolf wrote:
Wow the Wolves got wiped. The bad news about this that we played all our starters pretty big minutes, while the Nuggs starters played significantly less...


http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=281010007


I was pumped by the good news as was YoLeo. Al having a bad game doesn't worry me. My guess is when we settle down we will be a high % shooting team.

Has YoLeo done a game recap? If so, could someone post a link or a hint on how to find it? Thank you!

Also, looks like they tried Telfair and Foye in the backcourt. Anyone have any info on how that worked? From the stat lines, looks like it's not such a good idea. But who knows???

timmuggs wrote:
Has YoLeo done a game recap? If so, could someone post a link or a hint on how to find it? Thank you!

Also, looks like they tried Telfair and Foye in the backcourt. Anyone have any info on how that worked? From the stat lines, looks like it's not such a good idea. But who knows???

Scroll up 4 posts. It's not what you would call a full game recap but just some good thoughts!

hungry wolf wrote:
Disappointing...but who knows how close it would've been w/ McCants available the whole game. Even if their backups played a bit more than ours, we can still chalk it up to the preseason, right?


Oh yeah, definitely. I don't take much stock in pre-season games for any sport.

YoLeo wrote:
The guys we wanted to play well, played well.

Sure, their stats doesn't blow me away either, but some of their lines were relieving to see (Yes I know, granted we were playing against the signiture "Zero effort" defensive plan of the Nuggets).

...

Brewer: 18 points on 6-12 shooting, 4-5 three-pointers, all in only 16 minutes.


Excellent post and notes, YoLeo. I've enjoyed the recaps of the other two games. Howl for you.

Yeah, what's the story with Brewer? Reviewing the summary, it seems like he's still his fantastically spastic self, but now has 3-pt range? Sign me up for more of that.

It does sound like we did his a defensive wall in that Denver didn't mail in the D like they usually do. Hoopsworld is one of the few places I've seen that commented on it...

"What was most impressive in Friday's exhibition opener was Denver's approach and commitment to the defensive end. They rotated with purpose, sprinted to challenge shots, worked hard to get over the top of pick and rolls and took pride in stopping Minnesota." (www.hoopsworld.com/Blogs/CourtsideBlog.a...&LEAGUE_CODE=NBA)

And thanks to everyone else for their thoughts and comments!

I'm so sorry I missed out on this portion of the thread....

7sixes wrote:
I agree with EVERYTHING you guys just said. I can't stand it when people find out that I watch the T'Wolves and they immediately say, "They suck." I could get in an argument with them, which would be pointless since:

A. 99% of the time they NEVER watch games
B. They are complete fair weather fans
C. They are the kind of people that say, "College ball is SO much better."

All of this makes me never, ever want to talk to these fools about the NBA.


Wolves shoot 65 percent and hit 50% on threes, thus winning 123-105

Out of curiousity, how would you argue with "They suck"? I mean, we're talking about a team we're hoping wins 30 games this year. I guess I'd just deflect and say they are a young and promising team, and that every game they start they have a legitimate chance of winning, and an even better chance of providing a fun game to watch... if you like basketball to begin with. I'm guessing most of those "They suck" people don't watch b-ball, cuz I know I'm guilty of off-handedly dismissing the Vikes with "They suck" comments for similar reasons.

But the main point I wanted to add was that I totally like this guy at work. Not like the Wolf-Gomes man-love thing, but close . He's the father of three kids, the oldest of which is 5. So while I think he'd love to follow the wolves if he had time, he could just be pity-listening to me and let me gush on how there's at least 10 players on the team that each have a compelling storyline. And then bless his little heart, he'll let me talk for 20 minutes and then ask, "And how's Troy Hudson doing?"

Grunscion wrote:
And then bless his little heart, he'll let me talk for 20 minutes and then ask, "And how's Troy Hudson doing?"
After all the dust and debris settles, T-Hud was/is still one of the reasons why I became such a hardcore Wolves fan. I love that man (Hell, maybe even that CW-Gomes man-love thing), even for all his money-whoring and lame music producing he's worth!

The "CW-Gomes manlove thing" is awesome. I don't know where I would have been last year without it...