Wolves Pre-Season Record: 2-1


I guess I'll go with a loss here. It doesn't really matter what I predict, it's just pre-season. However, we tend to play worse on the road (like pretty much every NBA team.)

PREDICTION:

Wolves 92 - Bulls 99

We won!

Boxscore here: BOXSCORE


Solely looking at the boxscore, it looks like Al and Brewer had somewhat decent statistical games for our starters. Gomes, Love, and Smith had good stats off the bench.

Worst stats belong to Foye and McCants... by far.

Maddog started!

Though I only followed the game on GameCast, and very spottedly (Not a real word, I know) at best, I saw the Wolves completely dismantle the Bulls in the final 2 minutes. After battling back from being down 24-9 in the first quarter, they climbed back to take the lead 46-45 with strong play by Gomes and Brewer. Like I said, I didn't get to see much, but I followed the last few minutes, as the game was still within a 3-5 point margin. Eventually, the Wolves just put Al Jeff in, and he had 3 assists and 1 layup in the span of 4 straight possessions to easily pull ahead.

Overall, Brewer was killin' today, aside from horrible FT shooting (4/7). He grabbed 9 boards, but it seemed like a lot more because everytime I saw a rebound for the Wolves, it was his. He drew 4 offensive fouls on top of a steal and a block. He shot 5-11, with a 3-pointer, and seemed pretty smooth overall. Great to see him getting into the grove of it (This is his 2nd or 3rd straight productive game).

I didn't really get to see Love (Who only saw 19 minutes of action) when he was in, but he ended the night with a solid 10 pts, 8 boards, and 1 assist + steal. His surprising figure was the 6 offensive boards, a game high. Rhino was doing a lot of damage as well, especially in the 4th. I saw him make a few layups in a row, finishing with 10 pts, 7 boards (5 offensive), and an assist.

Other note-worthy performances were from Kevin Ollie and Ryan Gomes, who were solid glue guys for us today. Gomes helped dig us out of the hole in the 2nd, while Ollie played a good part in that as well. Ollie surprised me at the end of the game, scoring 6 of his 8 points in the final 2:14; the 6 also being part of the final 10 Wolves points.

Some of the disappointments were McCants and Foye. Bassy failed to do much as well. Foye did make 6 of our 13 1st quarter points, but had some costly turnovers (A team-high 4 TO's overall in 26 minutes) and bad shots. McCants just fired away like crazy, going 4/15.

Aside from some unimpressive play from our frontcourt, I think this was a very relieving game to see. We pulled ourselves out of an early 19 point deficit, and closed the game out strong. It looks like we didn't have a lot of mistakes, committing only 15 TO's to Chicago's 21. We also rebounded extremely well, winning that battle 45 to Chicago's 35 (15 offensive rebounds as a team).

Box score

Sorry for the double post, I know I could edit this into my last post, but there was a dunk by Craig Smith that deserves it's own post in this thread.

Click here for the video recap of the game, and wait until the last play of the highlight video.

I'm probably getting over-excited about this for no reason, but I dropped my pizza mid bite so I could share this with you guys. Enjoy.

Thanks for the link, YoLeo. Nice work from the Rhino!

Wow... nice!

Howl to you for the nice recap and posting the SWEET dunk by Craig.

I originally posted this analysis on te skimming thread because I was too lazy to find this thread so I'm moving it over her where it belongs. Not often I am the only on watching the game on TV so I feel compeled to give my thoughts.

Who says we can't play defense? Our bench plays defense. We came back from a 19 point deficit in one quarter due to the lock down D by Ryan Gomes, Kevin Ollie, Corey Brewer, Mr Carney and Al Jefferson trown in just to score. It was sweet! Kevin Ollie is a good PG. Always in control. He is not fast nor does he score a lot but he is in control and the game runs smooth when he PGs. Corey's still making buckets. I am sorry I said he was hopeless. Kevin Love almost a double, double. Every time McCants gets the ball he takes it to the bucket. He is smooth and great off the bench. When was the last time we had one of those guys on our team?

The first quarter slop was largely due to Telfair and Foye. Craig Smith is great energy off the bench, lots of rebounds and buckets. It was a fun game to watch.

mmaland wrote:
I originally posted this analysis on te skimming thread because I was too lazy to find this thread so I'm moving it over her where it belongs. Not often I am the only on watching the game on TV so I feel compeled to give my thoughts.

Who says we can't play defense? Our bench plays defense. We came back from a 19 point deficit in one quarter due to the lock down D by Ryan Gomes, Kevin Ollie, Corey Brewer, Mr Carney and Al Jefferson trown in just to score. It was sweet! Kevin Ollie is a good PG. Always in control. He is not fast nor does he score a lot but he is in control and the game runs smooth when he PGs. Corey's still making buckets. I am sorry I said he was hopeless. Kevin Love almost a double, double. Every time McCants gets the ball he takes it to the bucket. He is smooth and great off the bench. When was the last time we had one of those guys on our team?

The first quarter slop was largely due to Telfair and Foye. Craig Smith is great energy off the bench, lots of rebounds and buckets. It was a fun game to watch.


Thanks to you for the post, and a thanks to YoLeo for his post.

It's amazing how Corey is playing so far. He is like a different player on offense. Incredible stat line last night, leading in REBs and points. If this keeps up, I'm going to have to offer an apology to McHale for all the nasty things I've said and thought about his draft picks. Seriously, if Corey continues this production, we are gonna have a fun year.

Also, it was interesting to see the use of players last night. Witt used 10 players, and Miller sat out. Corey got the most minutes, the only player with over 30 minutes. I understand that -- they are building his confidence, and he is responding. Maddog had only 13 minutes, and I guess they had to give him a little burn just so he is used to it in case has has to play sometime this season. Everyone else had between 17 and 28 minutes, so it was like they were giving time to the core group minus Miller.

I agree with previous comments that Kevin Ollie looks like a keeper. He did ell when it counted. Too bad for Blake Ahearn, as he has showed some real talent in previous games, IMHO. But they gotta keep Ollie.

If Corey plays well again, it may be time to check out the betting on where the pups finish, and try to pick up a couple of bucks. They still may not make the playoffs, but I'll bet they win more than 35 games.

I was going to mention. How nice is the new video player on nba.com I love the new setup and it has a really smooth feel.

timmuggs wrote:
mmaland wrote:
I originally posted this analysis on te skimming thread because I was too lazy to find this thread so I'm moving it over her where it belongs. Not often I am the only on watching the game on TV so I feel compeled to give my thoughts.

Who says we can't play defense? Our bench plays defense. We came back from a 19 point deficit in one quarter due to the lock down D by Ryan Gomes, Kevin Ollie, Corey Brewer, Mr Carney and Al Jefferson trown in just to score. It was sweet! Kevin Ollie is a good PG. Always in control. He is not fast nor does he score a lot but he is in control and the game runs smooth when he PGs. Corey's still making buckets. I am sorry I said he was hopeless. Kevin Love almost a double, double. Every time McCants gets the ball he takes it to the bucket. He is smooth and great off the bench. When was the last time we had one of those guys on our team?

The first quarter slop was largely due to Telfair and Foye. Craig Smith is great energy off the bench, lots of rebounds and buckets. It was a fun game to watch.


Thanks to you for the post, and a thanks to YoLeo for his post.

It's amazing how Corey is playing so far. He is like a different player on offense. Incredible stat line last night, leading in REBs and points. If this keeps up, I'm going to have to offer an apology to McHale for all the nasty things I've said and thought about his draft picks. Seriously, if Corey continues this production, we are gonna have a fun year.

Also, it was interesting to see the use of players last night. Witt used 10 players, and Miller sat out. Corey got the most minutes, the only player with over 30 minutes. I understand that -- they are building his confidence, and he is responding. Maddog had only 13 minutes, and I guess they had to give him a little burn just so he is used to it in case has has to play sometime this season. Everyone else had between 17 and 28 minutes, so it was like they were giving time to the core group minus Miller.

I agree with previous comments that Kevin Ollie looks like a keeper. He did ell when it counted. Too bad for Blake Ahearn, as he has showed some real talent in previous games, IMHO. But they gotta keep Ollie.

If Corey plays well again, it may be time to check out the betting on where the pups finish, and try to pick up a couple of bucks. They still may not make the playoffs, but I'll bet they win more than 35 games.

uhhhh, negative.

timmuggs wrote:
Also, it was interesting to see the use of players last night. Witt used 10 players, and Miller sat out. Corey got the most minutes, the only player with over 30 minutes. I understand that -- they are building his confidence, and he is responding. Maddog had only 13 minutes, and I guess they had to give him a little burn just so he is used to it in case has has to play sometime this season. Everyone else had between 17 and 28 minutes, so it was like they were giving time to the core group minus Miller.
Mike's out with a "minor" ankle sprain right now. That's why he didn't get any burn

I think I have to agree with Daddy.

In my super duper best case scenario, we win 33-34 games.

Winning over 35 isn't out of the question, but it'll probably be 30-38. With the number of close games that occur, it's impossible to predict anything beyond that.

Good to see Jefferson starting at the 4. That's promising for what Wittman's plans might be in that area. I wouldn't be surprised to see Madsen or another vet like him starting at the beginning of the year and possibly for most games. Then, they could start Gomes if playing a team like Golden State.

pagingstanleyroberts wrote:

Good to see Jefferson starting at the 4. That's promising for what Wittman's plans might be in that area. I wouldn't be surprised to see Madsen or another vet like him starting at the beginning of the year and possibly for most games. Then, they could start Gomes if playing a team like Golden State.


That would definitely be ideal. I don't think they should start Love right off the bat at PF. However, I have no problems with Love/Gomes being the first bigmen off the bench (depending on matchups.)