TWOLVES WIN 111-100

Early Sunday evening, the Timberwolves went into the fourth quarter with a Western Conference powerhouse equipped with one of the league's pimpy point guards and a staff of deadly shooters tied at 74-74.  The Wolves scored 12 and gave up 28.

Moderately late on Tuesday evening, the Timberwolves went into the fourth quarter with another Western Conference powerhouse equipped with one of the league's pimpy point guards, only this one can also score, and a brigade of inside and outside scorers.  Deja vu?  No, you'll have to save that for that crappy time-travel movie where Denzel mails it in.  The Wolves buckled down in the fourth, scored from all angles, repelled Jazz runs, and came away with a well-deserved 111-100 victory.

I haven't read or seen any articles, recaps or highlight packages of tonights game, but I really hope ESPN and the other national outlets tell this game like it is:

The Jazz did not lose because they beat themselves, the Jazz lost because the Minnesota Timberwolves played a great game.

<-- Korver cowers in fear, considers return to That 70's Show after McCants yells at him. (NBAE/Getty Images)

As a matter of fact, this might be the best game I've seen in Target Center this season.  The two Phoenix wins were more fun and Jefferson had those performances where he gets blasted by gamma rays and turns into the Incredible Hulk, but the win tonight was a total team effort with consistent play and very solid decision making for the most part.  On top of that, the Utah Jazz played well tonight.  I think the Jazz can be seriously proud of the game they played, they just got beat.  Look at this box score.  Five Wolves in double digits, four of them over 20 points!  If you bet me a reasonable sum (in my gambling view that's anything up to $1,000 for something like I'm about to present) that at a Timberwolves home game this season we would have four 20 point scorers in one game, I would have taken your bet...well, if I could take your bet.  Which I can't, because it's not legal.  Nevermind.

It's not just that they scored 20 points each, either.  Of the 20 point scorers, would you guess that Jefferson had the lowest shooting percentage tonight?  The people who are paid to make open shots on this team made them.  Here's the other interesting piece here, the Jazz shot a better percentage from the field (46.4% to 43.2%), the free throw line (83.3% to 71.8%) and the 3-point line (46.2% to 71.8%).  The Jazz also had more assists (26 to 18).  So how did the Wolves overcome this?  They created 24 turnovers (11 more than the Wolves had) and turned that into 19 extra shot attempts and, ultimately, six more field goals.

But it was refreshing to get a superb fourth quarter out of this squad.  My seats are in the lower corner and we had the Jazz coming in our direction in the second half.  The Wolves had started to build a semi-comfortable lead towareds the end and then the Jazz ran three two-guard screens down low for three easy layups and suddenly the lead had vanished and the Wolves chances to win seemed as solid as a sub-prime loan.  I remember leaning over to my buddy Ryan (I lean because there's always enough seats open in our row for buffer seats, thanks Glen!), who also came to the Dallas game, and said, "Here we go again, tied going into the fourth against a pimpy point guard."  Well, crow is on the plate and I'm eating it. 

Good win tonight for the Wolves. 

I've got some other stuff related to game, the team in general, the Jazz and possible Western Conference regrets after the jump.  Click read more and come along.

Here's one thing to be happy about from Sunday night's game: I thought the Wolves were doomed in the third quarter.  With the Mavs up by double-digits in that period, I was certain the Wolves would quietly fade away -- the fourth quarter would be irrelevant, as the Mavs would have sealed the deal by the time we reached the final period.

That didn't happen.  The Wolves displayed some resiliency in the third quarter, as they made the proper adjustments to climb back into the game -- and, in fact, the game was tied as we entered the final stanza.

But before we talk about the debacle that was the fourth quarter, let's talk about the third for a minute.  Because it was a skitzo quarter...the Wolves came out of the halftime locker room playing like absolute garbage, but to this team's credit, they were able to adjust on the fly to remain competitive.

For some inexplicable reason, the Wolves completely went away from Al Jefferson on the offensive end in the opening minutes of the third quarter.  I don't get it...the team's best offensive option wasn't even touching the ball for three or four straight possessions during that time period.  I guess that just highlights the fact that Al still needs to become more assertive on the offensive end...he's been doing a better job of demanding the ball while the team's on offense, but if tonight's third quarter was any indication, there's still some progress to be made.  He still hasn't quite become the alpha dog that this team needs him to become...although, he is getting closer.

(Click "Read More" to continue) 

Gerald Green got his wish yesterday when he was traded to the Houston Rockets before the trade deadline.  He was “traded home” to the Rockets for 24 year old guard Kirk Snyder, a 2010 second-round draft pick, and “cash considerations.”  Snyder is in his fourth NBA season, with career averages of 6 points, 2 rebounds, and 1 assists per game.  He is an alumnus of the University of Nevada, drafted by the Utah Jazz with the 16th overall pick in the 2004 draft.  He has also appeared with the New Orleans Hornets before appearing in 9 games this season for the Rockets.  He averaged 3.8 points and 1.3 rebounds in 9 minutes per game.

Gerald Green’s option was not picked up this past pre-season, which made it glaringly obvious to most of the fans that this would be his only season with the T-Wolves.  Our VP of Basketball Operations Kevin McHale had this to say about Gerald’s game: “[GG] is probably the furthest away from readiness to play in NBA games of all of Minnesota's young talent.”   Green appeared in 29 games this season for the Wolves, averaging 5.1 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 1 assists in roughly 12 minutes per game.  Coach Randy Wittman elaborated further about why he was traded yesterday: “We had kind of a logjam with the same type of player, with (Randy) Foye coming back into the mix; we didn't have a lot of time there to play all those guys."

The trade was not a disappointment at all to the former Celtic and T-Wolf.  In fact, Gerald Green was quite pleased:  "It's like a dream come true. Never in my life did I think this would happen.  I am on cloud nine."  This marks the second time he was traded in the past calendar year, but it was best for all parties involved.

Why the Wolves did the trade:

In January, Gerald Green “requested” a trade (through his agent.)  Since the Wolves declined his option this pre-season, he was unrestricted and free to go wherever he wanted after this year was over.  Thus, we were going to lose him anyways and still got something out of the trade.  Namely, a two month look at Kirk Snyder and a future second round pick.  Not bad, especially considering some of the moves this organization has made over the past 10 or so years.  Low risk move by the Wolves, yet little to no reward.  An ok B-

Why the Rockets did the trade:

There are several reasons as to why this trade makes sense for the Rockets.  First off, they cut nearly $1 million dollars from their team salary.  This also puts them under the Luxury Tax for this season, which is a very nice move in and of itself.  Secondly, they are taking a very low risk chance with a “hometown” player that is known for having a massive amount of potential.  Whether or not he will ever fully realize that potential is another story.  From what I’ve seen, he can’t really play basketball at the professional level; at least not yet.  He can dunk and shoot (if left wide open), but that is about it.  Well… he can shoot.  He’s never had a problem hoisting the rock, but making the shots is what ails him.  Regardless, the Rockets got rid of a player that has only played 9 games while saving money and getting a raw prospect in return.  You can’t really fault this move by the Houston Front Office.  If Gerald doesn’t show them anything in the next two months, they simply let him walk away and owe nothing.  Well, they owe the Wolves a 2010 second round pick, but the value in that pick will be very minimal at best.  Before he was drafted, Gerald Green was being compared to Tracy McGrady… now it’s only fitting that they are both on the same team.  A solid B+

As much as the truth hurts, the Wolves are pretty much going nowhere this season, and had basically nothing to lose in this trade.  Considering that Gerald Green was going to be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, I guess it’s a bonus that we received anything back at all in return for him.  He wasn’t playing, and it was quickly becoming apparent that he was not part of our future plans.  Whether it was a good decision or not to decline his paltry contract extension, the trade itself was good.  The Wolves get a 2 month lease on Kirk Snyder to see if he brings anything to the table, and another future second round pick.  My hope is that they can eventually parlay this pick and a combination of other second round picks (or expiring contracts/etc) into a more useful asset (such as a pick higher in the draft… perhaps an additional first rounder?)  I have no complaints about the trade itself, but the way Gerald Green was handled by our Front Office during his tenure in Minnesota is another story entirely.

CW

(Note: When not pontificating about the NBA draft, Jon Marthaler can be found pontificating about nothing special at TNABACG.)

As part of yesterday's Gerald Green trade, the Timberwolves received Houston's second-round pick in 2010.  On the one hand, an extra draft pick can't be a bad thing, especially when the Wolves picked it up for dropping a player that didn't figure into their plans anyway; on the other hand, Minnesota doesn't exactly have a history of getting value out of its second-round picks.

With that in mind, I thought it might be time to take a look at Minnesota's second-round draft history. 

(Read more below...)

T-Wolves -vs- San Antonio Spurs (2.08.08)

FORUM THREAD (Click Me)

http://www.TimberwolvesToday.com

Well… it was a very fun game tonight.  Definitely an exciting one to be at, as the Wolves played with a lot of energy for the most part.  Coincidentally, tonight’s game was also the game that us lucky Bloggers got to attend on the Wolves Organization’s dime, due to our participation in the “Battle of the Bloggers” contest this past pre-season.  If you click the link and check out the results, you’ll see that I finished fifth out of seven people.  I had my reasons that I could pinpoint for not winning, but there’s no point in rehashing them.  Complaining is for losers anyways, and it was a very cool experience to be able to participate in.  On behalf of my fellow Bloggers, I’d like to thank Mike Trudell and the Wolves Organization for a fun experience tonight. 

As part of our participation, the original plan was to attend a game as a group with free “Club Cambria” tickets from the Wolves.  Stephen Litel was not covering the game tonight, and Alex Halsted did not show up either. Our very own DeRok lives in New Jersey, so it’s understandable as to why he wasn’t there.  I got to meet another TWolvesBlog columnist, Anthony Hall, for the first time.  It was a pleasure… and it was good to finally meet.  Anyhow, the remaining four of us met up with Mike Trudell at about 6:30 and went up to the Club.  While the view itself is not spectacular, let me vouch for the pre-game buffet.  I now understand why my boy Jack McCloskey has Club Cambria season tickets.  Good for him.  They had a nice spread of Barbeque chicken, au gratin cauliflower (I think that’s what it was), home fry potatoes, roast beef, some crappy vegetable stuff, and simply magnifico cornbread.  Ahhh, the cornbread.  Delicious.  I could go for more of that cornbread right now in fact.  I wish they sold it in the concession stands.  The view wasn’t the greatest because the seats in Club Cambria are actually “assigned”, like any other season tickets.  To right a wrong, Trudell graciously procured us much better tickets.  We ended up sitting in the middle of a section at midcourt.  I think everyone was happy with the very kind gesture and appreciated the hospitality. 
 

WOLVES BEAT SIXERS 104-88

If you're a regular on this site, then you probably know that the Wolves have been better lately.  The three losses following the Boston effort leading into the the All-Star Break were a downer (especially the Toronto and LA Lakers losses), but nothing compared to the putrid effort in November and December.  Right before the season, I looked at certain factors I would be watching for and winning wasn't on the list.  However, reviewing the list tonight, I'm starting to see some positive results in relation to what I was looking for.  This brings us to tonight.  In my lust to see the team just pull out a game or two, I totally forgot what it was like to win a boring yawner.

"Turbo" Brewer taking it to the hoop in the first quarter.  (AP Photo)

I have had the fortune of attending all 9 of the Wolves home wins this season and for the previous 8 wins, there was some serious energy in the Target Center, no matter how small the crowd was.  Tonight, the crowd started to empty out with 3 minutes left in the fourth in the same manner they emptied out of Target Center in the blowout losses.  Looking at the box score, I see that the Wolves outscored the 76ers in all four quarters and also somehow shot nearly 50% from the field.  When the game ended, I asked my buddy Ryan, "How did they score 100 points tonight?"  I still really have no idea.  At the conclusion of the game, I think the lineup was Foye, McCants, Jaric, Gomes and Smith and all five were in double digits.  Further review reveals that the Wolves put 7 players in double digits.  Then I realized something: I think the Philidelphia 76ers I saw tonight are the worst team I've seen play so far this year.  If nothing, they're easily in one of the worst situations in the NBA.

Please click "Read More" for more.

(When not rambling on about the Timberwolves, Jon Marthaler can be found at TNABACG , rambling on about Minnesota sports of all stripes.)

It's All-Star Weekend, and we're just a few hours away from All-Star Saturday Night.  With that in mind, it's a good time to look back at All-Star games past, filtered through the blue lenses of the Timberwolves fan.

Read on for more...

LAKERS OVER WOLVES 117-92

If there is one lasting image I have from my visit to Target Center tonight, it's this:

Please read that again.  It is likely that sentence will never be written a second time.  Now soak it in.  The guy in the picture above did a double-cluth, two-handed dunk in a game against our team.  I don't think Coby Carl is allowed to double-clutch dunk in NBA2K8 much less a pick-up game.  This is the equivalent of Adam Kennedy hitting 3 home runs in one game. 

* UPDATE - Check out the NBA.com full play-by-play page.  Scroll to the bottom.  This is the exact play according to NBA.com:

Karl Alley Oop Dunk Shot: Made (2 PTS)
Assist: Farmar (3 AST)

Anyways, the Wolves lost tonight 117-92 and, as the old saying goes, the game wasn't that close.  Had the Lakers not utilized the daunting lineup of Farmar-Vujacic-Turiaf-Mbenga-Karl out on the floor for a significant portion of tonight's game (approximately 7 minutes), I think the Lakers had the potential to win by 40 points tonight.

Box Score

I did not enter tonight's game with a lot of hopes for a victory.  The Lakers, in an early entry for crime of the century (larceny), acquired Pao Gasol from the Grizzlies for 4 tins of Grizzly chewing tobacco and Kwame Brown.  This move not only makes the Lakers an instant contender for best team, it also makes an absolute matchup nightmare for the Wolves.  Can you imagine the matchup problems with Bynum back?  I actually think Gasol on Jefferson is the tougher matchup because of Gasol's length and defense.  However, beyond that position, did you feel comfortable with any of the following matchups for the starters:

Phil Jackson v. Randy Wittman

Fisher v. Telfair

Bryant v. Jaric

Radmonovic v. Turbo

Odom v. Gomes

Even with the Laker's reserves, a bench that is seriously deep in all the key spots, the Wolves just have a tough match up against this particular team.  Add in the fact that the Wolves just couldn't get the offense going for any consistent stretch during this game and you have the recipe for a slaughter.  There's really not much to add about this game, it was messy for the team on both ends and hard to watch if you're a Wolves fan.  On top of sloppy offense, the players failed to hustle to loose balls, which is something that always bothers me, and apparently bothers the 22,120 ESPN readers (see poll on right hand column).

The worry from my perspective, as someone who closely follows this team and goes to all the games, is that the team has had two uninspired performances following one of their better games of the season (albeit a loss, the Celtics game was very entertaining and a pleasure to attend).  If these past two games are a "hangover" from that defeat, then the young players have to adopt the short memory strategy that most successful teams and individuals have for both failures and triumphs.  Let's hope the break reinspires some of the pups.

In the first quarter, it was Marko Jaric who gave the Wolves an offensive jolt.  Jaric was on-target from the perimeter in the opening period, and helped our squad keep the first quarter deficit to only four.  In the second quarter, it was Antoine Walker.  Shimmy came off the bench and knocked down a pair of threes, bringing the Wolves back into the game when it looked like Toronto was on the verge of pulling away.

In the third quarter, though, no one stepped up for the Wolves.  Seriously, I almost fell asleep several times during the third, as absolutely nothing was happening on the offensive end for us.  No one knocked down a big shot to catalyze a run, no one could buy a bucket from the perimeter--it was one of the more forgettable quarters I've seen the Wolves play in the past few months.

Looking back at the first half, though, the player that stands out most to me is Sebastian Telfair.  My most frequent complaint of the Wolves this season is that they've looked old and slow too often, even though they're one of the youngest teams in the league.  Well, in the opening two quarters, Telfair ensured that I wouldn't be able to make that complaint about him...he was everything a young point guard should be.  He pushed the tempo, made plays with his quickness, and did a good job of distributing the ball on the break.

I hardly noticed him in the second half, and his stat line looks pretty ugly (2-10 from the field, six points...although he did have eight assists), but nevertheless, he deserves some praise for his youthfulness (is that a word?) in the first half.

I was also quite impressed with Big Al in the opening half.  Teams are pretty much doubling him every time he touches the ball, and Al's taking advantage--he's definitely shown great improvement in passing out of double teams.

One problem: The Wolves don't have anyone who can knock down a shot from the perimeter on a consistent basis, and that's been their primary downfall as of late (earlier in the year, the major problem with the team was a lack of effort...they've been playing harder lately, but still, their desperate need for a perimeter shooter has reared its ugly head more and more often over the past month or so).  Our guards have been getting open looks as a result of the constant double teams on Jefferson, but their shots just haven't been falling.

Al was also impressive on the defensive end tonight.  Guarding Chris Bosh is obviously no easy task, considering Bosh's sweet jumper and his solid power game around the hoop, but Al did a nice job of guarding the big man.  Had a few blocks on Bosh, and limited him to 14 points.

But I'm being too positive...the Wolves did lose by 23, after all.  They lost it in the third quarter, but honestly, I don't know what I can say about that period that I haven't already said in this recap.  It was a void, 12 minutes of nothingness from the Wolves.  A black hole of a quarter.  The energy that helped them remain competitive during the opening two quarters vanished.  As I said, no one stepped up.  Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld famously pitched Seinfeld as a "show about nothing"...well, the third quarter of tonight's game was a "quarter about nothing."

Despite that disappointing quarter, though, the night wasn't a total waste...we had the chance to see a host of familiar faces.  Obviously, we got a glimpse of Sam Mitchell, one of my favorite Wolves of all time (I still have his bobblehead doll sitting on a shelf along with my Terrell Brandon and Crunch bobbleheads...and yes, I fully realize that I have a terrible bobblehead collection).  Also saw Darrick Martin, who's older than Jesus.

And then, of course, there's Rasho, who played five years with the Wolves...one of McHale's many failed big men.  I've seen people in nursing homes with more toughness than Rasho.  Finally, we saw Kris Humphries, who played just under nine minutes in tonight's game.

If you were watching the game with a young, impressionable basketball player, I hope you shielded his or her eyes during Humphries' playing time tonight.  Rarely have I seen a basketball player at any level who is as selfish as he is.  I mean, if Jerry Sloan couldn't turn this kid into a more complete player, I don't know who possibly could.

In his four seasons in the NBA, Humphries has played 2,797 minutes.  He has 111 assists.  I did the math, and he averages roughly one assist per 25 minutes...so, he could play a full game of 48 minutes and still struggle to reach the lofty mark of two assists.

Humphries was taken with the 14th overall pick of the 2004 draft by the Jazz.  Al Jefferson was selected with the 15th overall pick.  How'd that one work out, Utah?

Ah, but I shouldn't kid...the Wolves received a shellacking in the second half from Humphries' squad, after all.  I'm just glad I decided against using my voucher for a free ticket tonight...because after the monotonous second half, I would have somehow still felt ripped off, had I been in attendance.

Here's video from last night's game, showing Kevin Garnett's first return to the Target Center as a member of the Boston Celtics:

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