Editor’s Note:  This article was written before last night’s 101-91 victory over the Miami Heat.  Slight edits/adjustments have been made to compensate.


      I’ve recently found it harder and harder to collect my thoughts and objectively attempt to cover a team that displays such a putrid effort on a nightly basis.  In fact, the most consistent thing about this 5-29 Wolves squad is our glaring lack of desire and heart out on the court on a daily basis.  Dwane Casey may have been fired last year for being too “inconsistent”; but I’m not sure Glen Taylor & Company were bargaining for a coach that is consistently bad, which is what we’ve got in Randy Wittman.  Then again, they are all buddies so who really knows what's going on. 

    I’m not at the stage where I’m apathetic enough to no longer care, and I’m also not yet extremely angry about what’s going on during the games.  It’s true that watching the Wolves has been pretty depressing of late, but going into the season I expected a heavy dose of losing.  Anyone that thought we wouldn’t lose a majority of our games was merely kidding themselves, or a tad bit delusional.  My contention is that I did not think this team would accept losing to the degree that has been happening lately.  Most nights the Wolves are a sad, sorry lot that looks like they’ve already managed to lose the game before tip-off.  It does not appear that our team is adequately prepared heading into games, nor do they have competent leadership; be it on the court or at the top of the organization.  When it comes down to it, I’m a die hard fan that will support this club to the bitter end, but if the Timberwolves Organization does not start turning things around soon, they will find themselves losing the attention and financial support of a large group of the fair-weather fans.  I’m not using “fair-weather fans” in a derogatory way, but every sports team has its fans that support the team when they are winning, and appear to care a bit less when things are not going so well.  From what Glen Taylor would like us to believe regarding his financial situation of owning the T-Wolves; losing any financial support is not an option he can readily or easily afford.  Thus, the onus is on Glen Taylor and his cherry picked Front Office to turn this club around, before things become completely unpalatable to the vast majority of Minnesotans.

(Click "Read More..." for the article in it's entirety)

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I haven't been getting enough sleep lately.  I've been really busy over the past week, I've been catching up on some late-night TV viewing (Conan rules!), and -- oh yeah -- I LOVE caffeine.  So, with all that in mind, I haven't exactly been getting my recommended amount of nightly sleep.

Thank God for the Wolves -- they're a helluva sleep aid.  Today's game was a snoozer from start to finish, with the Wolves only briefly displaying any life.  Remember when we were all talking about how fun this team would be to watch?  Well, in reality, they've been exceptionally boring.

At one point this season, the Wolves were actually competitive. They weren't winning, but they'd be in the ballgame right down to the wire.  Lately, though, we've been seeing more and more games that have been decided by halftime.

And today's game was indeed over by the end of the second quarter.  Dallas came out with greater intensity than the Wolves did, made the all-important hustle plays, and most importantly, they actually played defense.

Here's the bright spot of the game: Quick Change performed at halftime.  Otherwise, the suckers who actually paid money to see today's game (myself included) were absolutely robbed.  A waste of money.

A couple things from today's game: This team doesn't hustle, they don't play hard on defense, and they're completely one-dimensional on offense. 

Four fast break points for the Wolves.  Prior to this season, we envisioned a team that would play fast-paced and up-tempo on offense, using their youth and energy to their advantage.  That hasn't happened.  This team doesn't push the tempo, and often gets bogged down in sluggish halfcourt sets.

Now, that wouldn't be the absolute end of the world if we actually had serviceable perimeter shooting.  But we don't.  Antoine Walker is the only person on this team who hits the three with any regularity (and even 'Toine's often inconsistent from behind the arc) -- other than him, quality perimeter shooters are few and far between on this roster (and I even hesitate to classify 'Toine as a "quality" perimeter shooter..."streaky" is perhaps the better word).

The defensive effort from the Wolves was nothing short of laughable.  When you're playing a team like the Mavericks, you need energy and intensity on defense -- give Dallas uncontested shots, and they'll kill you.  The Wolves must not have gotten the memo.

The matchups with Dirk weren't exactly favorable.  Neither Al nor Craig match up well with Dirk, and that was painfully obvious during the game...Nowitzki had numerous uncontested jumpers, and he simply doesn't miss when defenders fail to get a hand in his face.

On the perimeter, the Wolves' defense couldn't have been much worse.  Dallas' guards were constantly able to penetrate against our guards, who played with no energy on the defensive end and simply weren't moving their feet.  Look at the stats: Bassy finished the game with three fouls, while Jaric picked up another three and McCants had four.  Again, that's just evidence of this team playing defense with their hands, while failing to get a body on the Mavs guards.  Don't call it poor defensive technique...call it poor effort.

Our bigs deserve plenty of blame on the defensive end, as well.  As I mentioned, Dallas maintained a huge advantage on the offensive boards, simply because they hustled and we didn't.  That's a simplistic statement, but really, it doesn't need to be any more complicated than that...Dallas hustled, and the Wolves didn't.  And it's been getting increasingly common to see the Wolves get out-hustled.

I fully believe that this team quit on Wittman today.  It's been said that the NBA is a game of momentum, a game of runs...well, the Wolves didn't really make a run, and they never had much momentum (they showed a little life in the second quarter, but beyond that, Dallas dominated this game).

I'm not upset because they lost to Dallas.  That was expected.  It's that the Mavericks displayed more hustle, more intensity on the defensive end, more energy.

It's one thing to play a hard-fought game, and come up empty.  It's another to not even care. 

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*What's up, everybody?  Hope you're doing good tonight...it'll be interesting to see what happens tonight, as the Wolves face the hottest team in the NBA, the Trail Blazers.  I'm just hopng the Wolves can avoid a blowout, but we'll just have to wait and see.

*Brandon Roy (remember him?) leads the Blazers in scoring this season, as he averages 19.2 PPG...he also leads the team in assists, averaging 5.6 per game. 

*Meanwhile, LaMarcus Aldridge is averaging 18.2 PPG and 7.2 RPG. 

*Portland went 13-2 in December, and saw their 13-game winning streak come to an end against Utah on New Year's Eve. The Wolves and Blazers last met on December 28, when Portland beat the Wolves at Target Center, 109-98.  

*Uhh...how did a huge crack form at center court?

*All right, Hanny..I think you've made enough witty comments about the Wolves using the word, "gap."  "The Wolves will need to repair the gaps in their scoring"..ugh!

*No way...PA's on the pregame show?  Sweet...he's always been one of my favorite local sports minds. 

*Well, even though PA's completely right about Wittman's previous rotations hurting Brew's development, he'll probably get thrown off the pregame show for having the nerve to criticize the coaching staff. 

*All right, looks like we're finally ready to go...Click "Read More" to continue...

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Join me Wednesday evening for a live blog of the Wolves-Blazers game (the game's at 7:00 CST, and is being broadcast on FSN).  Portland's 13 game winning streak recently came to an end with a loss to Utah, but at 18-13, they're on the verge of overtaking Denver for the lead in the Northwest Division.  Should be interesting to get a look at the surging Blazers, so hopefully you can stop by during the game. no comments

Last week, I talked about being thankful for the Vikings' turnaround, since it gave us something to cheer about in Minnesota.  Well, that sure went downhill fast...after the Vikings collapsed against the Redskins, it looks like yet another Minnesota team will be left out of the playoffs.  And if the Vikes do indeed miss the playoffs, my attention's turning to Tubby's team.

I'd like to personally accompany Randy Wittman to a Gophers basketball game--if he took a gander at how Tubby's squad is playing, maybe he'd be a little less incompetent in his current position.  

Both the Wolves and Gophers share similarities...the biggest being that neither team is terribly talented.  The Wolves have potential talent on their roster, but as of now, their talent level is (obviously) inadequate when compared to the rest of the NBA.  Meanwhile, Tubby's working with Monson's players--and with a few exceptions, we know that Monson was a lousy recruiter.

OK--so both teams lack talent.  Why, then, are the Gophers 10-1 (with yesterday's win against Kennesaw State, they surpassed their 2006-07 win total), while the Wolves are an embarrassing 4-25 (easily the worst record in the NBA)?

(Click "Read More" to continue)

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We might as well jump right into this, it's the long awaited First TWolvesblog Open Mailbag.  (Ok, so maybe it wasn't "long awaited"... heck, perhaps it wasn't even "awaited.")  Regardless, I got some quality questions from eight people, covering a very large and diverse range of topics from: meeting players after games, potential massive Wolves/NBA trades, my favorite and least favorite players, and which I like more... Patron or Grey Goose.

 

(Click "Read More..." to dive into the MailBag.)

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With the Wolves killing the Pacers one night, and then getting killed by the Hornets the next, it seems like the perfect time to bust out another edition of "Tips o' the Hat, Wags o' the Finger."  So, who will be getting the presents, and who will be getting the lumps of coal?  Let's find out...

*A wag o' the finger to back-to-back games.  Back-to-back games are a bitch, aren't they?  After an inspired final three quarters of basketball on Friday, the Wolves came into New Orleans and were flat for pretty much the entire game.  I can't make excuses for the horrible effort we saw on Saturday, and a well-rested Wolves team would have still been beaten decisively by New Orleans.  But playing back-to-back nights certainly played a role in the blowout loss.

*A wag o' the finger to Wolves' transition defense.  This has been an achilles heel all season, and it's a concerning problem because poor transition defense often signifies a lack of effort.  The Wolves are doing a brutal job of getting back on defense...the Hornets had 35 fast break points last night, while the Wolves only had five points on the break.  This has been a huge problem throughout much of the season, and things only seem to be getting worse.

*A tip o' the hat to Tom Hanneman.  I'll admit it...Hanny's starting to grow on me.  His ridiculous "Hannemanisms" are so bad, they're good...for example, when we were playing Golden State and Monta Ellis drained a jumper, Hanny actually used the phrase, "the full Monta."  Here's another good one I spotted on the KFAN boards: ""The rhinoceros is preposterous!"  I still miss the Harlan-Tucker announcing team, but I don't mind Hanny.

A wag o' the finger to turnovers. Another issue that's been a problem all season, and seems to be getting worse.  Turnovers are killing this team...the Wolves will often go through stretches where they don't take care of the basketball, and that gives opposing teams an opportunity to make a run.  More often than not, this careless, stupid play by the Wolves occurs in the latter parts of the game...thus, we blow leads in the second half.   Again, it's another problem that's gone unchanged throughout the season.

(Click "Read More" to continue) 

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Hey everyone,

I am running an Open Mailbag for anyone that is interested in sending any questions and/or thoughts, and I'll anwer them next week.  Heck, I promise that I'll even answer them all... I'm like an Equal Opportunity Employer.

There's tons of things to talk about at this point in the season:  The Wolves roster, our awesome record, the Head Coach/Front Office situation, any previous or upcoming games, what you like or don't like... the possabilities are endless!

Or you can just email me and tell me that I suck.  It's all good.

Email all inquiries/Mail Bag questions/comments/hate mail to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

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T-Wolves -vs- Golden State Warriors (12.19.07)

 

BOXSCORE: 

http://www.nba.com/games/20071219/GSWMIN/boxscore.html  

POSTGAME PODCAST:

http://www.timberwolvestoday.com

WARRIORS POST GAME COVERAGE:

http://goldenstateofmind.com/story/2007/12/19/15710/538#commenttop  

 

Well well well.  Shockingly we blow an early 14 point lead and lose again.  Ok, not shocking at all.  I didn’t actually go to tonight’s game because I’m kinda rundown and not feeling too well.  This did allow me to watch the game from the couch, which was rather warm and comfortable.  I might cut this “Musings” a little short as I’ve got the Detroit-Boston game queued up on the DVR.  Honestly, I can’t believe I’m even sitting here typing this and foregoing the Celtics game for the time being.  That’s ol CW… I’m here for my fans. 

The Wolves only had 10 active players tonight, which resulted in a much smaller rotation.  Out tonight was Randy Foye (with a knee booboo), Antoine Walker (broke shot), Marko Jaric (lonely), the Expiring Contract Formerly Known as Theo Ratliff (Old Age), and Greg Buckner (may or may not still be alive.)  Two other guys garnered DNP-CD’s, which resulted in an 8 man rotation.  Those two dudes were Madsen (too white) and Doleac (too ugly.)  In the forums I predicted that we would lose 111-99.  I was only off by one point, which is nice. Props to me I guess.  (If only gambling were legal…)  Anyhow, if you want to read more, just hit the jump button below.
 

(Click "Read More..." for thoughts and analysis.)

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Wassup guys...getting set for the Celtics game, which is coming up in a few minutes on ESPN.  Boston has won nine-straight, and currently stands at 20-2...meanwhile, the Pistons enter tonight at 17-7.  KG's stat line for the season, thus far: 18.5 PPG, 10.4 RPG, 3.7 APG.  Should be an excellent game, without doubt.

*KG has a ridiculous +/- rating-- he's a + 26.9 this season.

*More Celtics stats: Pierce is averaging 20.9 PPG, and Allen is averaging 19.2 PPG. 

*Looking forward to seeing Flipnosis, as well...man, if you'd have told me in 2003-04 that Flip would be coaching the Pistons and KG would be playing for the Celtics in four years, I'd have called you crazy. 

*Doris Burke is no Erin Andrews.  Anyways, the game's about to tip-off:

First Quarter:

*Just looking at KG's reaction after drawing the Sheed foul, the revitalization of the Big Ticket is immediately apparent.  You wouldn't have seen that fist-pumping reaction last season. 

*How do you stop this team?  If you have KG covered, Ray Allen will fly in and nail a floater in the paint. 

*Love the move by Rajon Rondo...and on the next possession, he hits a jumper.  He's gotta be taking the media's coverage of the Celtics personally...Rondo's really gone under the radar. 

*What's gotten into Rajon Rondo?  More importantly, what the hell has happened to Detroit's guards?  Why aren't they getting a body on Rondo?  Rajon leads all scorers with eight points, as Flipnosis takes the timeout. 

(Click "Read More" to continue)

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