The Spurs take down the Wolves 113 - 109 in OT

The TWolves Blog Forum Spurs Game Thread is hoppin with discussion, and it's also where I also post my thoughts on games.  So if you are a Wolves fan looking for discussion and other destroyed souls that happen to be fans of the Minnesota Timberwolves, then the TWB Forums is place to be.

Here are some talkers on tonight's game:

I can’t believe we blew a 21 point lead and lost in OT. Well… I guess I can believe it, we are the TWolves after all. Still, this was infinitely closer than I ever thought it would be. Oh well. Good game Spurs. Way to stay in it and fight back. That's why they are champions.

But wow… their three point shooting. They were 2 of 17 from deep at one point. 10 of 32 on the game. Egads.

Ridnour barely beats out Beasley for having a worserly (word?) atrocious game. Beasley has higher expectations overall, but Ridnour played 11 more minutes than Beasley tonight, and was 2 of 12 from the field. Ridnour and Beasley had probably their worst two games of the season. And they happened in the same game, which was unfortunate for us, to say the least. If either of them had even played average, we win tonight.

Beasley took dumb shots. Had bad turnovers. Didn't even look like he was in the game. And Ridnour... man, he was just brutal.

The refs were about as atrocious as atrocious can get.  I know people complain about NBA refs all the time (well deserved I'd say), but oh my god this was bad.  Story of our lives.

Darko was the man (of course.) And Wes J. looked really good for the most part. KLove naturally had those huge stats, but I dunno... it's not like he's anywhere near as dominant as Shaq. The reason I say that is because Shaq was the last guy to put up more than 1 30+ point, 20+ rebound game in the same season in the NBA. Love has nowhere near the impact on the games that Shaq did.

Darko = Best Center in Wolves history. Keep it up and he’s an All-Star! Hahaha. Or not. But still, what a GREAT off-season signing. Screw off National Media Haters/Hollinger/Simmons/etc etc etc times infinity.

Duncan. Man, he's just not the same. He's still good of course, but not what he once was.  And he's still soooooo... damn... whiny.  It's very annoying. Of course he wasn't ever called for a technical.  Weird how that works.  You asshat Stern.

Manu is definitely their best player, in my humble opinion.

Does Tiago Splitter suck? Or does he just need more time to get used to the NBA (same as with Pekovic.) I dunno. And he looks malnourished. He’s like the Corey Brewer of big men.

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Our 4-11 Timberpuppies take on the 12-1 (!) Spurs tonight at Target Center.  I did a Gameday Preview with the best San Antonio Spurs blog on the net, Bloguin's own Project Spurs.  I don't think I need to tell any hardcore NBA fan that you should be checking out that site on a daily basis, because they are damn good at what they do (at least, much better than us jokesters here at TWB.)   And if you are a Spurs fan (booo!), then you are already checking out this site all the time anyways, because it's the best.

Jeff from Project Spurs asked me who's playing well on the Wolves besides Beasley/Love/Darko (CW Editor hint: no one), Talked Kevin Love and keys to victory, asked about the Spurs hot start to the season, the match-up of the night for tonight's game, and my score prediction.  To see how I responded, you are going to have to venture over to Project Spurs to find out!

 

To read Jeff's answers to my totally, amazingly, awesome questions... please click "Read More" below to continue on with this story!

 

 Here's my side of the Q&A posted over at Project Spurs!

And for more TWolves news/analysis/discussion/arguments, make sure to check out the newly reamped TWolves Blog Forums!

 

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Was it Wally World's epic "Tonight, We Shine" post from last week that caused such a huge change of heart for ESPN's Bill Simmons?  I'd like to think so.  But whatever the cause, it looks like the national media is beginning to take a small turn in their opinion towards the T-Wolves.   Last week, we saw a front page story on ESPN.com touting K. Love and The Beas as the leagues best forward combo.  Then this weekend, we were treated to Bill Simmons eating some crow (not a lot, but probably as much as we'll get from him) regarding his treatment of the Wolves and the Kahn man. 

Regarding the Wolves...

A fascinating DirecTV team lately because of Kevin Love's epic rebounding binge (although that 30-30 game was inadvertently a bad career move since there's no way the T-Wolves will deal him now), Michael Beasley's uber-rejuvenation (163 points in his past five games) and Darko Milicic's historically atrocious offensive start (first 11 games: 22.7 MPG, 28.8 percent FG, 50 percent FT, 1.91 TO, 5.0 PPG, although he did rally this week). Minnesota GM David Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahn effectively traded Al Jefferson for Darko, Beasley and two non-lottery picks, so if Beasley redeems his career -- that's a defensible trade. Well, unless you're one of the other Western teams and you want to wring Kahn's neck for giving Jefferson to Utah.

As for Kahn, the 2009 draft fiasco speaks for itself: He whiffed on Stephen Curry twice and totally miscalculated the Ricky Rubio situation. He will never be able to justify giving Darko $20 million under the bizarre logic, "We need a passing center for the triangle," given that the triangle hasn't succeeded in the NBA without MJ or Kobe being involved … so a 15-win team severely overpaying a four-time castoff based on the logic "We need him for the triangle" would be like TBS badly overpaying a bandleader based on the logic, "We need him for Lopez!" And it still hasn't explained why the T-Wolves embarked on a multiyear rebuilding plan when they don't own their own first-round pick in 2012; at some point soon, they're going to have to suck it up and deal Rubio's rights for immediate help.

(Hold on, big "Having that said that" coming … )

Having said that …

Stealing Beasley for two second-round picks was a freaking heist. Maybe he couldn't handle South Beach. Maybe he couldn't adjust to playing off the ball with Dwyane Wade. Maybe his personal demons were worse than the girl's from "Drag Me to Hell." But watching him this month has been a revelation -- even if he's a defensive liability, there aren't 12 NBA players right now who can drop 30 points easier than him.

Couldn't someone have trumped two second-round picks? Why would Toronto GM Bryan Colangelo turn down Beasley in the Bosh/Heat sign-and-trade when Miami would have thrown him in for free? Where was Oklahoma City's Sam Presti, who could have easily trumped Minnesota's offer and added Beasley (one of Kevin Durant's best friends) as a much-needed bench scorer? And where the hell were the Clippers???? I know he played terribly last season, and I know about the off-court concerns, but if you watched him in college … I mean … how could the No. 2 pick of the 2008 draft be worthless two years later? That was such a steal that I'm suspending all "Kaaaaaaaaahn!" jokes indefinitely. Great, great trade. And shame on the rest of the league for falling asleep.

So like I said, not a total backpedal by Simmons, but we'll take what we can get.   Some praise for Love and Beasley and a suspension of Kahn bashing, sounds like a good start.   Sure the whole Rubio situation continues to be an attack point, but when he's either A. in a Wolves jersey, or B. traded for something  valuable, then everyone will finally let it go and shut up about it.   And as far as Darko goes, we've beaten this horse to death.  I've given up on anyone in the nation media thinking about that contract rationally. Even if he broke his leg and never played another game, Darko's contract would still rank somewhere among the 25th worst that was handed out this past off-season.   Darko's contract should have been a blip on the radar compared to some of the franchise-killing deals this summer. 

Whatever.

I just thought it was nice to at least see some minor positive vibes surrounding this team after half a decade of nothing but bad news.  There's still a long way to go, but at least it's a start. 

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Darko with 23 points, 16 boards, 5 assists, and 6 blocks tonight against the Lakers.

Suck it, World.  You too John Hollinger. 

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Tonight was the most spectacular sports performance I have witnessed in person. A perfect game. The first 30 and 30 in 28 years. Beasley adding 35 points as icing on the cake. A rally from a 20 point deficit in the 2nd half. Beating the NBA franchise I hate the most. Love stuffing Amare' and his $100 million pansy-fail-ass to the floor down the stretch. I was proud. And genuinely happy. After having to postpone attending last week's game due to conflict after the Wolves graciously offered TWB staffers a pair of tickets each, I settled on the non-televised Knicks game. The evening started with myself and the lady watching pre-game warmups from the bench.  And ended with me, to be perfectly melodramatic and excessive, speechless. Shortly before the buzzer ended I actually hugged a random man from New York. And I was sober. This is the kind of night it was at Target Center Friday. We may never see another night like it. And it is only game 10 of the year.

It's strange, when you think about it, how much time and energy is invested into sports and basketball. Dumbed down, the barometer of our day/night/week is dependent on people twice our size tossing a rubber ball around an arena and throwing it through a metal ring. I mean, how barbaric and primitive! But on the car ride home tonight, I tried to explain to the lady as best as I could how much a night like tonight meant to me. I admit it, my emotions spilled out. After 6 years of scrutiny. Of heartbreak. Of blown games. Of dreadful coaching. Of draft picks lost. Of stars traded. Of former Wolves blowing up elsewhere. Of national media embarrassment. Of Kahn Kahmments. After 6 years (hell 22 years)....the Wolves came out on top on a scale previously unfathomable. Even if it was only one game.

Finally.

Finally, something unbelievably positive happened. Tonight, we shined. Tonight was like going to 1,000 job interviews, getting harshly rejected every time, and finally getting an offer on day 1,001. One game? Absolutely. Who cares. Have we turned a corner? Debatable. Who cares, just enjoy it. Let's stop worrying about which guy we can trade for late lotto draft picks to blow up the ship again. Stop bitching about Rambis, or Love's defense, or Darko's airballs. Stop loathing Beasley's shot selection. Or whether Love and Beas can coexist. Or whatever cynical topic we can conjure up as winter approaches. Just for a few days. Just enjoy the outcome of this game, and be as cocky as possible about it. We earned it just as much. Not since KG and Marbury's first season together have I felt this amount of energy surrounding two young stars.  Guys who can actually play. This is no Big Al and Mike Miller combo here. This could be the start of something truly special. And it is only game 10 of the year. A bit of a stretch? Sure. But again, who cares. Enjoy it. 

Think for a moment the amount of great players and teams that have come and gone in the last 28 years. The Bulls dynasty. The Lakers dynasty. The Spurs. Kevin Garnett himself, Lebron James, Larry Bird, McHale, Jordan, Duncan, Shaq, Kobe. Sure, those guys have had dominant games and unbelievable statistical performances, and I am not by any means comparing Love or the Wolves to any of them. But... championships aside, none of those teams or players, or fans were able to produce or experience what happened at Target Center tonight. Not after this many years of misery, or this much public mocking and incessant ridicule. The last time something like this happened was before I was even born....and it occurred on a normal frigid Friday in "NBA Siberia."

A genuine congratulations to Kevin Love for his unbelievable performance, which is perhaps the greatest statistical output in Wolves history. Let's not forget Beasley and the rest of the crew who held their own as well. And cripes, I'll even thank Kahn (or McHale in Love's case) for setting it up and allowing us who saw it to experience what just happened tonight.

To quote Morgan Freeman in Shawshank: "We sat and drank with the sun on our shoulders and felt like free men. Hell, we could have been tarring the roof of one of our own houses. We were the lords of all creation. As for Andy - he spent that break hunkered in the shade, a strange little smile on his face, watching us drink his beer....You could argue he'd done it to curry favor with the guards. Or, maybe make a few friends among us cons. Me, I think he did it just to feel normal again, if only for a short while."  So, enjoy it, however irrationally you do so, if only got a short while.

Oh, and because we deserve to say it: fuck you Bill Simmons. And a double and triple fuck you to all of his ESPN columnist minions. Good night.

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Wolves take down the Kings 98 - 89 in Sacramento


Be-Easy drops a career high 42 points! 

Wolves win our first road game in 260 days! 

Doubled our win total on the season! 

Enjoy it while it lasts...

...as the NY Knicks come to theTarget Center this Friday night.  It should be a good one.  Will the NY Stinks mop the floor with us?  Will Darko cower in fear when he sees his old coach?  Will Pekovic eat Gallinari for lunch (literally, will he?)  Neither team can play defense, will we see 300+ total points?


Check out all kinds of game thoughts and analysis in the TWolves Blog Forums


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Wolves fall in LA 94 - 99


Whoa.  We actually looked like a real flesh and blood NBA team tonight.  How refreshing!  Granted, I think part of it was the usual fare for a Lakers vs. TWolves tilt; namely that the Lakers are mostly dis-interested and lackadaisical for most of the game, only to turn it on and do just enough to beat us at the end.  We know they are infinitely more talented than us.  They know they are infinitely more talented than us.  And they are at home... and we stink on the road... and and and.  But at least we played some solid ball.  I give the Pups credit for not just lying down and dying against the defending champs, especially coming off 5 consecutive losses.  I actually enjoyed watching this game tonight, for only the 2nd time this season.

No matter how you slice it, the Wolves looked pretty good tonight.  Well, I take that back.  Some of our guys had some great moments individually, but you aren't going to beat anyone when committing 25 turnovers, 21 fouls, and shooting less than 40% for the game from the field.  Continuing our season of ineptitude from the field, the Wolves indeed shot only 38% from the field tonight.  That probably won't get it done against the Sioux Falls Skyforce, let alone the undefeated defending champion Lakers at Staples.

Here's to hoping we can build on this effort tomorrow night in Sacramento... and maybe, just maybe, get our first road win this season?  (Ok, let's not ask for too much all at once.) I just can't in good conscience predict a Wolves win against the Kings. I probably would though if it wasn't a back-to-back, AND on the road. We couldn't beat the Kings the first game of the season, and now they have Tyreke back. Tyreke is really good.  And we have literally no one to stop him, with our PG's being Telfair and Mo Ager. (Stabs self in eye.)

Fun Fact:  KLove was the first TWolf since KG to go for 20 points/20 rebs/5 assists in a game.  KG did it 18 times.


Some talking points about what went right tonight:

- KLove with 38 minutes, going for 23 points and 24 boards (career high!)

- Actually, finally all our starters actually playing real legitimate, honest to god "starter's minutes."  About time Coach Rhombus.

- Beasley doing his thing and scoring some points, although would it kill him to take it hard to the hoop more often?

- 26 offensive rebounds!  That almost makes up for the 25 turnovers, 21 fouls, and 38% FG shooting.  KLove with 11 O-boards by himself.

- We out-rebounded the Lakers 54 to 42.

- Telfair looked decent enough running point.  He hit three 3's and had 9 assists in 39 minutes.  Too bad he didn't have a serviceable backup.

- Darko is alive!  He played his best overall game this season, going for 10 points, 7 boards, and 2 each of assists/steals/blocks.  On top of that he played very solid defense.  If we can get this every game from him (honestly, that's not too much to ask) then his contract will be a steal.  And hopefully it will shut up national media writers like Chad Fraud and John Hollinger.  For any of you that didn't know, J-Holl called Darko the worst FA signing this off-season, and the 2nd worst rotation player in the NBA so far this season. He's clearly not that bad, and his contract is nowhere near terrible, or franchise crippling. Screw you Hollinger. Douche.


Some talking points about what went wrong tonight:

- 25 turnovers!!!

- 38% shooting from the field.

- KLove still had some bad defensive lapses.  And he's just undermanned defensively against guys like Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol.  But his defense isn't good overall.

- Beasley doing his thing and scoring some points, although would it kill him to take it hard to the hoop more often?

- Our bench was putrid and didn't provide much of anything, although this could have been because our starters FINALLY played "starter's minutes."

- Telfair looked decent enough running point.  He hit three 3's and had 9 assists in 39 minutes.  Too bad he didn't have a serviceable backup.

- Speaking of backup PG... Mo Ager is our backup right now (due to Telfair and Ridnour's injuries.)  Disgusting.

- I thought Wes Johnson looked really good during the game and appeared to play solid defense, unfortunately the stats look pretty bad.  Just 7 points on 3 of 11 shooting, with 4 rebounds, 3 turnovers, and 5 fouls.

- Kobe/Gasol/Odom... they are just too good for us when they are actually trying to beat us.

- Pekovic only 1 minute? Kosta Koufos The Doofus 9 minutes?  What the heck Rhombus? MAKE THINGS RIGHT.


Come join us in the TWolves Blog Forums, for tons and tons of riveting in-depth analysis and Wolves chatter!


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Valued forum member Wolfenstein came out with a thoughtful post this morning that included his observations of Darko compared to another tremendously overrated, white prospect. These types of posts are always interesting to read and think about as we dive deeper into the absurdities of NBA and Timberwolves fandom this season. Take it away Wolfenstein:
Just for kicks...

Player A is a 7 foot Center from Eastern Europe. He is starting his first full year with his new team. He is 24 years old. Through the first few games of the season, his statistical line is:

13.3 mpg, 2-7 fgm-fga, .286 fg%, 1-2 ftm-fta, .500 ft%, 0.7 ORb, 2.3 DRb, 3.0 TRb, .33 Stl, .67 Blk, 1.67 TO, 3.00 PF, 0.3 Ast, 1.7 Ppg

Player B is a 7 foot Center from Eastern Europe. He is also playing his first full year with his new team. He just turned 25 years old. Through his first few games, his statistical line is:

20.4 mpg, 4-28 fgm-fga, .143 fg%, 6-9 ftm-fta, .667 ft%, 0.8 ORb, 2.3 DRb, 4.8 TRb, .60 Stl, 2.60 Blk, 2.20 TO, 2.80 PF, 0.8 Ast, 2.8 Ppg

For the sake of argument, let's say that Player A just signed a multi-year contract this summer starting at, oh, say.. $3,567,096 for this year. Player B signed a multi-year contract this summer starting at about $4.3 million.

Player A is being lauded as a brilliant signing and the future of a franchise while the National media takes turns taking pot shots at Player B, who in spite of his terrible (I mean TERRIBLE) shooting, still manages to post a positive PER (0.49, but still). Hero of the franchise Player A is at -1.94.

As you may have figured out, Player A is Timofey Mozgov, and Player B is Darko. Now I am not normally a Darko apologist, and his shooting has been awful. Vomit-in-your-mouth-when-you-think-about-it-awful. But he is still playing a role, and he is a finesse center who needs to develop in a number of areas, but most importantly his competitiveness (because competitive fire breeds confidence).

Centers typically peak in their late twenties and early thirties, since savvy and technique is so much more important in the post than athleticism.

I'm not suggesting Darko will develop, I'm just suggesting that the possibility is there. Sample size is everything, and 5 games (against some nasty competition) is too small a sample to be throwing in the towel on the big fella. 

Wolfenstein makes a good point here. Of course, Mosgov is a rookie and has a little more upside due to his age, while Darko has had numerous chances and once ripped his own jersey off during a game (look it up). Plus, since Mosgov was undrafted, he must be the next Ben Wallace/Anthony Morrow-type hidden, undrafted gem. Furthermore, Donnie Walsh signed him so he must be an all-star in the making, while Darko can't possibly be at least a serviceable role player for the sole reason that he was once picked ahead of Melo, Wade and Bosh. That's just how it works, I guess.

It is difficult to understand the level of thinking when it comes to the national media and others needlessly trashing the Wolves while  they,  for example, praise this Mosgov guy. There are countless scenarios in which things like this happen.... and then I slowly remember we lost by 42 points the other night and it kind of starts to make sense. Alas. 

Oh the absurdities of NBA Fandom.  no comments

Nothing magical came home from the Wolves' apparent mid-Fall vacation. An all-too-expected and deserved bully act from arguably the top 2 NBA teams have placed the Wolves right where we should have expected them to be, but never hoped for all along: the bottom of the barrel. A bone-crushing, embarrassing franchise worst 42-point shit-storm of a loss from a team who didn't even play their starters 2 full quarters has left fan (omitting the plurality from this word as my last attempt at keeping this joke alive) wondering just what is going on. We were 6-2 in the pre-season against decent competition, but we have been crapped on now 3 games in a row with no end in sight as the Hawks soar into town this Friday ready to embarrass further.  

The Wolves have gotten off to a dreadful start the past 3 seasons. This year is no different. However, it seems  the pre-season may have been a bad thing fan-wise as it  raised expectations to an unrealistic level. But it is really interesting to see how much this, and perhaps last years' teams have underachieved. Taking a step back, let's use the horrible 24-win 2008-2009 roster (a nightmarish season to watch for all) as an example: Randy Foye (missed 12 games) and Telfair ran the point, non-shooting Mike Miller (missed 9 games), Brewer (missed 70 games) Brian Cardinal and Rodney Carney on the wings. Al Jefferson(missed 32 games), a rookie Kevin  Love, Mark Madsen, Shelden Williams and Jason Collins up front. Not to mention a mid-season Wittman spanking and the slew of injuries you just read parenthetically. This team won 24 games with the aforementioned, largely turned over and re-tooled might I add, roster. ~65% more wins than last season despite the talent upgrade. Just compare that lineup to this year, factoring  the injuries into your thinking. Is the 2008-2009 win total  not some sort of minor miracle by comparison?  CLICK READ MORE TO CONTINUE
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T-Wolves lose to Orlando Magic 128 - 86


Two consecutive games in Florida.  Two losses by a combined 74 points.

We are a disgrace.

At least last year it took over half a season before I no longer wanted to watch Wolves games.

The end.
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