Watching He-Pek steal the ball at half court then dunk it and wondering what the folks who used to cry about wasting that pick on him instead of DeAndre Jordan are thinking.

I bet at the end of Jordan's career he won't have a third of the post game He-Pek does.

espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=320207016


Great game, great win! We absolutely needed that!

Ricky, The Peksecutioner, and even D-Charge and Beasley all played well with Love gone. Whenever Ricky was out of the game though, we struggled and lost our lead. We need him. He is our leader. Unfortunately, he needs to play as much as possible for us to win games.

It was a good time in the Live Chat on the front page of TWB. I'll go put up another one for tomorrow's game.

Can someone refresh my memory why Darko is out, and isn't even listed in the boxscore as DNP? I must have missed something...

Ugly, yet awesome, win.

Another game that we won simply because we got off to a good START and controlled the game immediately. Kings never lead. Fewer people are making the dumb "I'm ok with a bad start as long as we get a good finish" argument.

Having PEQUILLE in that starting lineup to shoot 50-60% (season avg.) is humongous. It allows us to control momentum. When that happens, and the shooting percentage naturally goes down, you can still at least control the game on the defensive end, and the Wolves were tenacious defensively in that first half, forcing turnovers left and right, when the shots weren't falling in the 2nd quarter. Great to see, unlike that run-on sentence.

Darko playing more minutes than Pek that game and tossing up his empty hooks and killing the offensive flow = a Kings win.

Beasley nearly lost us the game with his shot selection late. PEK should have gotten more looks in the 4th.

SKIMMERS: read this if anything. With a win last night, if the Wolves were to lose every game the rest of the season we will have finished with a higher win % than '09-'10 AND one more win and we are guaranteed a higher win % than last season! The season isn't even 40% over! Egads.

WW, good look on them stats. I want to hear Rambis comment on why the Wolves are quasi-good. I don't expect them to be in the playoffs, but such a dramatic improvement has GOT to be embarrassing, no?

That game was muy feo, for sure. The first quarter was more about the Kings being complete trash than anything else. That game was more about not losing than beating them. I doubt good ol' Lionel Hollins is going to sleep on Pek like Keith Smart did. Gasol will pose a different problem than Cousins. They were completely unprepared for the Wolves and Pequille O'Nealavic. I blame poor coaching.

A few more thoughts from The Son of Chico Dusty...

Adelman is a strange duck. It sounded like he said something about a shortened rotation without Love in response to a question about Webster. I could look up his post-pre game chatter, but I don't care to. Anyway, seems strange not to play Webbie at all. We all agree here that while he's healthy and playing with Ricky, he should put up solid points on a good FG% while playing good D. He's not an all star or anything the Wolves can't have the entire starting five on the All NBA team, right? (FYI, my sources tell me that so far the voting goes like this: Pek, Love, Wes, Kobe, and Rubio...Makes sense to cover up for Kobe's age with Wes' length and athleticism).

I really think Adelman just also likes Brad Miller as a person. Why is this poor guy forced to go onto the court? Clearly he doesn't want to be there, he can barely stand up for an entire possession. I think opposing teams are afraid of hurting him when he's out there, so there's that.

Ricky was, for once, a rookie in the clutch!?? He's human after all! missed free throws and a poor shot, not typical.

Once more for Ricky Adelman. Why is D-Charge in the game at the end? He can't shoot free throws and he isn't aware on defense. Mr. Adelman, you silly man.

So, anyone still think Love is more valuable than Ricky? I immediately expect disaster when the Spanish Jesus is on the bench. Without Love, the Wolves can temporarily fill in a large part of his presence. But obviously that's not sustainable for more than a game or so. They also seemed to run with Wes and D-Charge more than Love and Wes. This makes sense. For that reason, roll with AR, Beasley, Wes/Caged Lion, Webster, and Rubio next game, light it up!

Nice.

Yeah I noticed that shortened rotation commentary from Adelman last night. It seemed strange, but he has about 950 more NBA coaching wins than everyone on these boards combined (pulling a Zgoda with that line). I suppose the Kings have a smaller backcourt? Maybe that was the reason? No Garcia from Sac and Webster would have been a better matchup there. But the word was to expect a similar rotation tonight.

And Wolfenstein (and anyone else who agreed with him, but he was especially adamant), deserves full bragging rights on Rubio's impact. Personally, I was convinced he'd ride the pine this year. Can you imagine Ridnour running this game if Rubio needed a game off or something? Yikes. Ever notice how Ridnour has gotten flashier and it backfires nearly every time?

OH...and JJ's self-created, often contested, early in the shot clock 3's are starting to get annoying (except when they go in, of course).

My favorite sequence of the game:

- Beasley steals (or rebounds) the rock
- Beasley dashes up the court with the ball
- Beasley hands off to Ridnour followed by an instinctive slash down the wing.
- Ridnour awkwardly dribbles to the same wing and and ends up in the corner with Hayes on him.
- Beasley has no clue why Ridnour went to the corner too and hasn't thought past this moment so he shuffles back to the 3 pt line to wander around wishing Rubio was there to tell him where to go.
- Ridnour dribbles in 3 circles and then realizes Hayes is on him.
- Ridnour instinctively tries to take Hayes off the dribble but is thwarted.
- Ridnour realizes that 37 seconds have elapsed (shot clock broke down or something).
- Ridnour thinks to himself, "WWRD?" ..."What Would Rubio Do?"
- Ridnour dribbles one way, looks to the hoop and craftily throws a no-look one-hander behind his back!!!
- To the Kings.
- Puts head down and sprints back on D, thinking "How in Satan's hell does Ricky do that?"

Adelman has a nose for talent. He knows who uses it and who underutilizes it. Ricky squeezes every ounce of talent out of his being, and guys like Randolph are literally (well, not literally) dripping with talent and consistently put forth inconsistent efforts.

I am confused about the shortened rotation thing I guess too, except that if he feels that a 3 guard rotation of Ricky, Luke, and JJ give him his best chance at winning, that's what he will do.

There's something to be said for going out and worrying about yourself and making the other guy prepare for you, rather than preparing for the other guy and never worrying about doing what you do best.

It's sort of the proactive/reactive paradigm.

That being said, Love's injury leaving Martell without minutes is a bit confusing.

daddyfatsax wrote:
That was really weird. Charge was fresh off the missed Free Throws too. I can't stand his FT approach. The good guys calm down and do their thing. Charge is all over the place (as is Ricky at times).

This team could due to watch game film of Jamal Crawford shooting free throws. He seems like the most text book guy to emulate in terms of overall demeanor and approach.

How does Beasley miss those damn short jumpers and why on earth does he always spin to the center of the court on the post up? That game was an easy win with made FT's and made Beasley 5 foot jumpers.

daddyfatsax wrote:
YES! That is actually what inspired my 'Ridnour thinks he is Rubio' comment if it wasn't obvious enough.

D Charge was in because Adelman was actually giving him a chance.

WallyWorld wrote:
And he hit the three.

pants wrote:
Arguably the key play of the game.

pants wrote:
#D-Clutch the King Killa.

daddyfatsax wrote:

So True! lol