T-Wolves -vs- Cleveland Cavaliers (11.21.07)

 

BOXSCORE:  http://www.nba.com/games/20071121/CLEMIN/boxscore.html

TimberwolvesToday.com Recap: http://www.timberwolvestoday.com/?p=43#comments

Off to yet another game at the Target Center with Bonk.  This game was actually closer for the majority of the contest than the final score indicated, despite the fact that the Wolves were without Randy Foye, Sebastian Telfair, and Theo Ratliff.  The Cavs won handily thanks to the fourth quarter domination by the man-child Lebron.  He had 10 straight points in the last two minutes… which resulted in the 11 point victory.  I don’t think he even broke a sweat.  For the game he tallied 45 points, 8 boards, and 5 assists.  Big Al didn’t do too shabby himself, notching 30 points and 8 rebounds on 12-20 shooting.  The Wolves rallied back from about a 14 point deficit to get within 4 points in the fourth quarter, but their spirited comeback fell short. Ha, go figure.

As season ticket holders, we brought with our coupons to receive our free throw blankets and Wolves season scrapbooks.  Not as cool as last year when we could pick between jerseys, shorts, t-shirts, and bobbleheads… but better than nothing I suppose.  Next year we’ll probably get coupons for half off one food item.  The “scrapbook” is lame, and they gave us two of them.  Why?  The “blankets” are decent I guess.  However, they are paper thin and smell like mothballs.  I wouldn’t stick them in your trunk for use as emergency blankets, I can tell you that much.  If you stitched them both together and made one super season ticket holder Wolves blanket, it would probably be big enough to cover up Corey Brewer.  However, it definitely would not be big enough to keep Antoine “Mount Foodji” Walker warm.  On a side note, I may be sitting here scribing this sitting in nothing but the said blank.  Just kidding.  Maybe.

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

 

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It's been way too long since I've handed out some tips o' the hat and wags o' the finger, so here we go...

First of all, a tip o' the hat to Jeremy for his solid take on Wittman. 

A HUGE wag o' the finger to Randy Foye's knee.  Christ, what horrible news it is that he'll be out at least another three weeks.  Jaric's been playing at a fairly high level (for Jaric, that is), and Bassy's been solid at several points this season, but when I watch this team, it's impossible not to realize just how much they need Foye.

They need a reliable guy to handle the offense, someone who can take care of the ball while keeping the offense up-tempo.  They need a player who can step up in the fourth quarter, night after night.  And they desperately need someone not named Greg Buckner or Rashad McCants who can knock down some jumpers.  Those things are exactly what Foye brings to the table...and those things are what we'll have to live without for the next month or so.

The basketball gods must be punishing us or something, because this is just insult to injury.  A 1-7 start, and now this news comes out.  I hate to say it, folks, but these are gonna be a long three or four weeks- things aren't going to be getting better anytime soon.

(Click "Read More" to continue)

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In what is obvious news to (a) the masses of people that follow the NBA; (b) most people who grab a sports page even if they have no interest in basketball; and (c) a lot of other people, the NBA regular season has started.  As I type these words, our local team, the Timberwolves, has played 8 of the 82 regular season games that it will play.  It has won 1 of those games and lost 7.

Has anyone told the coach that the regular season started?

I have attended every game thus far and caught two of the three road games on TV.  It seemed that for the first six or seven games, the coach of this team (I don't want to use his name, as I would like to think that I can refer to a different coach in the near future) seemed like he was attempting to establish a rotation.  In the first five losses of the season, the Wolves were genuinely competitive and probably should have pulled a couple of those games out.  They also seemed to use a rotation where one or two players would spell players who were tired, slumping, or both.  One huge problem in that first few games was the obvious free-throw disparity, but it certainly seemed like they had a successful system figured out.  The first problem in the sentence prior is a micro problem, the second is a macro issue.  The team seems to have corrected the micro and completely f****** the macro.

The past two games have been atrocious.  In the fourth quarter, the Wolves have looked about as confident as a person that just farted in his or her job interview.  I'm not a hockey enthusiast, but it is my understanding that substitutions are done on the fly and that certain "lines" enter the game based on situations.  Does the coach think this is hockey?  The last two games, he has run in what seems to be a first and second team.  I have never seen this work on any level.  I once played for an intramural team in an "everyone has to play" league.  Our coach honored that motto and made line changes like the ones the current Timberwolves coach makes.  We lost every game.  By a lot.

What this coach is doing looks more like he's trying to figure out who on the floor can play with each other.  Isn't that what the preseason is for?  Don't most coaches from elementary school teams on up make depth charts?

Counter-argument - "Wahhh, waaaah, we've got injuries."

I've watched a lot of teams over the years have to deal with injuries when making new rotations.  What do the successful teams do?  They usually have this deal called a depth chart, which I mentioned above.  It's really a slick sports device.  A coach will divide his stock into 5 positions.  The best player at each respective position is put at the top of the depth chart, the others in that group are placed below.  When the first person on the depth chart gets injured, they slide the second person on the depth chart in that position up one slot and that person carries on the job of the injured player.  In recent memory, the Kings teams that never got past the Lakers used this system to great success while Chris Webber was out.

Not only is this system not working, it's making the team less competitive AND, more importantly this season, it's making the team a great deal less entertaining.  To the business employees and shareholders, if this lack of entertainment continues, how empty can the place get?  I have an empty seat adjacent in all directions so far this season.

Deep draft this year, just saying...

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Hey, at least this game mixed things up a bit.  Most of our prior games had been decided in the final 5-6 minutes...but this one was pretty much over before we even reached the fourth quarter.

In the past three games, especially, this team has gone where Rashad McCants has taken them.  In Tuesday's game against the Kings, Rashad had a dominant performance, and the Wolves earned every bit of that win.  Against the Wizards, McCants' lack of playing time in the fourth quarter helped Washington take control of the game in crunch time.  And tonight, Rashad struggled from start to finish- and the Wolves ended up getting spanked by the Hornets.

The streakiness of McCants has definitely been evident during this past week.  A few nights ago, Rashad put up a career-high 33 points and dominated the second half- tonight, though, he simply never got into a rhythm and shot a disappointing 2-8 from the field, finishing with 7 points.

Arguably, then, the biggest challenges Rashad faces are of the mental sort.  We've seen his talent on full display during several games this season, but we just haven't seen much consistency from him in his young NBA career.

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I'll keep my comments brief tonight, as I was only able to watch the second half of the game...and I think most fans will be talking about that $%^!@% fourth quarter, anyway.

The first thing that led to tonight's fourth quarter collapse was clearly the absence of Rashad McCants.  Witt seemed to want to ensure that Rashad stayed out of foul trouble as the game went down to the wire, but he was overly-cautious in keeping Rashad on the bench for the majority of the fourth quarter.  And without doubt, Witt's tentative lineup management severely hurt our chances of stopping Washington's fourth quarter run.

McCants reentered the game with roughly five minutes remaining, and by that time, the momentum was rapidly shifting in Washington's favor (thanks in large part to Gilbert Arenas, who was freakishly good in crunch time).  McCants was, once again, the best player on the floor for the Wolves...and with that in mind, you've gotta take the risk of putting him back into the game earlier in the fourth quarter, despite his foul trouble. Yeah, there was a SLIGHT chance of him fouling out, but as the only Wolf that's displayed much clutchness this year, McCants needed to get a lot more time in the fourth.

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In the aftermath of the Kevin Garnett trade, Wolves fans were left with a roster full of strangers.  In addition to losing KG, the Timberwolves cut ties with Mike James, Bracey Wright, Troy Hudson, Trenton Hassell, Ricky Davis, and Mark Blount.  As the roster currently stands, only Mark Madsen, Marko Jaric, and Rashad McCants were Timberwolves two seasons ago.  And counting players who suited up for the team last year only takes one hand as Randy Foye and Craig Smith are the only players to join those three.  What's even more mind-boggling is the fact that after Wednesday's trade which sent Davis and Blount to Miami, the T-Wolves had managed to add eleven new players to their roster this off-season.  In order to make the "getting to know you" period a little easier, the folks here at TWolvesBlog decided to put together a set of profiles on some of the Wolves up-and-coming players.  We posted a new profile each day as a countdown to the start of the season.  This post contains a link to each of those articles so that those of you who missed the pieces during their original run can view them.

Al Jefferson
Randy Foye
Ryan Gomes
Craig Smith
Corey Brewer
Rashad McCants
Gerald Green
Chris Richard
Sebastian Telfair

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Good evening ladies and gents...glad to have you along for tonight's live blog.

First Quarter: 

*Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs has an awesome voice for those Ford ads...and on a completely unrelated moment, click here to watch Mike try to get people to pay 25 bucks for a paper bag.  Anyways, it's game time...

*Artest's return will be the main storyline tonight...and on the other end, I love to see McCants making his way to the free throw line.  Seeing a Wolf at the charity stripe was way too rare of a sight in the first five games...I think we shot around 25 free throws on Saturday, which was a step in the right direction.  Hopefully we can continue that trend tonight.

*Brad Miller looks more like a NASCAR wannabee than a starting NBA big man. 

*To say that the crowd looks sparse would be a huge understatement. 

*Ugh...that's the Marko we know and love.  Doesn't finish the drive, and then bricks an open look.  You've gotta love Al Jefferson's pump fake...it's money every time. 

*All right, that was officially Theo's coolest block of the season. 

*Big Al's dominating...looks like he's gearing up for a huge night.  And man, that crowd looks horrible...the lower level barely looks like it's half full. 

Click "read more" to continue... 

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Join me tonight at 7:00 CST as I live blog the Wolves/Kings game (the game is being broadcast on FSN).  1-5, anyone? no comments

Ugh.  The first four losses hurt, but this one really stings.

Out of their first five games, the Wolves easily had the best chance of winning this one.  But an embarrassing offensive meltdown in the fourth quarter doomed them to dropping this game to the Kings, and falling to 0-5.

I have no idea why this team can't get their act together in the fourth quarter.  And specifically, the last six or seven minutes of the game.  It's been the same story in virtually every game this season...the Wolves put themselves in a position to grab the win, but the offense falls flat in the final minutes.

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We've almost gotten to the point where we can script out the exact course of a Wolves game.  Our squad gets off to a hot start in the first quarter, but we put ourselves in a hole in the second and third periods.  And even though the Pups battle back in the fourth, they ultimately fall short.

The Wolves did an exceptional job of getting up and down the court to start the game, and their transition-oriented offense garnered them 28 first quarter points.

Problem is, though, that there's a fine line between an up-tempo game and a sloppy game.  The Wolves offense, in the second quarter, went from the former category to the latter category.

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