The TWolves Blog Forum Game Thread.  Peruse... if you dare!

Game Preview for tonight from the Orlando Sentinel:

WHAT TO WATCH FOR: It should be a big night for Dwight Howard. Look for the Magic to try to establish Howard early. Jefferson is going to be a load down low for Rashard Lewis.

- I think a "big night" is an understatement.  D-Ho will probably go off for 20 pts and 25 boards in like 30 minutes of work, max.  Is there any possible situation where the Magic don't absolutely destroy the TWolves tonight?  I don't see it.

Here's a much better game preview for tonight from Howard The Dunk:

Kevin Love, who scores 14.4 points per game, is one of the league’s best pound-for-pound rebounders. Love’s rebounding rate is 20.9%. To put that into perspective, Dwight Howard’s reboudning percentage this season is 21.9%.

Keep an eye on former Florida Gator Corey Brewer – he always seems to be good for one highlight play.

Former Magic big man and notable bust Darko Milicic has been playing much better as Minnesota’s starting Center. He even posted a double-double, 16 points and 12 rebounds, against the Los Angeles Lakers last week.

Orlando does have a far superior team and if they come to play, should have absolutely no problem getting back to their winning ways.

- Oh weird, the traditional print media "preview" is short and cookie-cutter, while the blog preview is indepth and contains much more analysis.  And people wonder why newspapers are dying?

The Orlando Sentinel also says that Al Jefferson says that "I don't think you can stop Dwight Howard." I says the TWolves are doomed.


Minneapolis seeks upgrades for Target Center:

As Target Field gets ready for its big debut next month, an older neighbor that shares the same first name is quietly waiting for a series of improvements that would — in the city’s view — make the arena “viable” for the next two decades.

The city of Minneapolis — which owns the 20,500-seat Target Center, home of the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves, concerts and other events — sought state money to pay for some of the planned upgrades, but the request failed to find its way into the conference committee bonding bill.

- Is a Better Team a doable upgrade?



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Wolves Fall to Goomba, Bobcats for 14th straight loss.

From Jerry Zgoda, the Wolves started off okay but then went to Arby's over halftime and mailed in the rest of the evening. Note to team: There is no need to tank anymore. We have secured our draft position.

They are 14-58. The franchise's worst season was 15-67 in 1991-92, when they were the NBA's worst team but picked Christian Laettner third in a draft that offered Shaquille O'Neal and Alonzo Mourning.

The Wolves committed six of their 16 turnovers in that withering 20-0 stretch, which in many ways was a microcosm of their entire season: Travel. Bad pass. Bad pass. Ball dropped out of bounds. Bad pass.

Bobcats forward Gerald Wallace (23 points) seemingly made layup after layup on a night when Charlotte outscored the Wolves 24-8 on fast breaks and 66-46 on points in the paint.

Jonny Flynn has struggled this season

From Sven Cobum, RealGM. Points out the obvious that Flynn has struggled this season and not quite performed up to par. I'm not sure why there are such tight constraints on the point guard? How is this helping his development again?

Unfortunately for Flynn, the honeymoon period is brief when you win two games in the first month of the season and the offense is in shambles. New system or not, Flynn wasn't looking like the decisive leader that we saw in that classic game vs. UConn. In trying to find the balance between being distributor and offensive weapon, his indecision was leading to a turnover rate higher than any of the other starting floor generals from his rookie class. In a league where scouting reports spread like wildfire, teams found that like most rookies, his midrange game was limited. Flynn would try and stay aggressive and attack the rim, but would often end up on the floor after a forced shot attempt with no foul call to bail him out.

Darko Milicic is an angry man

From ESPN, a quick, comical writeup on Darko's attitude. I mean, its no doubt the guy is a little traumatized. Its obvious Darko's problems are more internal than anything else...

He's earned roughly $37 million for playing 6,183 career minutes, a wage approaching $6,000 per minute. Yet Milicic wants to blame Brown? He should be thinking positively and thanking his agent. Without a rich daddy, sweetheart deals like that are difficult to find

Offseason o' Disappointment Fun Ahead!

Travis Heath of Hoopsworld lays out the possibilities for the Wolves this Offseason. In short, draft night better be good or Hello Joel Przybilla and Travis Outlaw!

Truth be told, the draft is where Minnesota has the greatest chance to turn things around.  The Wolves have a total of six picks in this summer's NBA Draft with three of those picks coming in the first round.  If the standings stayed the same at the end of the season as they are today and everything held to form in the lottery (which as we all know that never seems to happen) the Wolves would own the second, 17th, 24th, 32nd, 44th, and 46th overall picks.  All told, the Wolves need to add at least two wings and a legitimate center to the roster as foundational pieces.  Not all of this has to be done through the draft, but with six picks expect the Wolves to try and address these needs if at all possible come June.

Historical Lottery Results

Forum poster 9Deuce posts historical lottery results for teams in our position. It's not good:

01-02 = Warriors - Picked 3rd
02-03 = Denver - Picked 3rd
03-04 = Bulls - Picked 3rd
04-05 = Hornets - Picked 4th
05-06 = Knicks(Traded to Chicago)- Picked 2nd
06-07 = Boston - Picked 5th
07-08 = Thunder - Picked 4th
08-09 = Wizards - Picked 5th
09-10 = Wolves - it's over...we are done!!!

The Deuce however, follows it up with this refreshing point:

On a slightly positive note, even though the 2nd worst record fell, 6 out of the 8 years it turned out to be positive for them.

For example:

02-03 Denver - Picked Carmelo
04-05 Hornets - Picked Chris Paul
05-06 Knicks traded to Chicago, Chicago traded to Blazers - Picked Lamarcus Aldridge
06-07 Boston traded to Seattle for Ray Allen - Seattle picked Jeff Green.
07-08 Thunder - Russel Westbrook
08-09 Wizard traded to Wolves - Wolves picked RICKY RUBIO!!!

So the "bad" years?

2002 - The Warriors picked Mike Dunleavy over future NBA standouts DeJaun Wagner, Nikoloz Tskitishvili and Drew Gooden.

2004  - Ben Gordon, who was fairly decent for Chicago for many years. He was picked over Shaun Livingston, Josh Childress and Devin Harris who is currently the floor general for what could be the worst team in NBA history.

Here's a link to tonight's game thread in the forums: Wolves @ Bobcats

Sporting News has a preview for tonight's game.

Minnesota trailed by one at halftime but allowed 60 second-half points.

"Our half-court defense let us down in the second half," said coach Kurt Rambis, whose team is surrendering 113.6 points per game during its skid.

Forward Al Jefferson, who led Minnesota with 22 points, had 19 with 10 rebounds against the Bobcats last month. He also had a career-high six blocks in the Timberwolves' last visit to Charlotte - a 100-90 defeat on Dec. 1, 2008.

Minnesota has lost five of its last six against Charlotte.

The Wolves Make Moves for Playoff Push and Other Teams Aren't Happy About Cardinal-gate.

Rob Mahoney has the story for ProBasketballTalk

After dropping 13 of their last 13 games, the Minnesota Timberwolves knew it was time to make a change. So they're bringing in the big guns, and likely re-signing two-time MVP Brian Cardinal for the home stretch.

The Wolves are just 28 games out of the final playoff spot in the West, meaning that Cardinal's services are as vital as ever. He averaged an impressive 1.7 points and 0.9 rebounds per game this year in 27 contests for the Wolves until he was included in a trade that brought in former All-Star Darko Milicic.

Click the link to read the rest of this little story. It's pretty funny.

From Jerry Zgoda's Twitter page: Why, when I'm traveling to the next #Timberwolves game, do I walk right past my departure gate looking for the one to Bataan?

You know things are bad when the beat writer for the team equates going to wolves games to going on a death march.

I'm Developing an Obsession with the D-League

Here's the latest Call-Up Rankings from Ridiculous Upside

2. (tie) Morris Almond, Maine Red Claws (24.7 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 51% FG, 42% 3pt) - I attended his game last night, hoping to be astounded after I found out that in his first seven games in March, Almond was averaging 23.6 points and 6.3 rebounds while shooting 58% from the field and 51% from 3-point land. Wow.  Unfortunately, he matched-up against former D-League defensive player of the year Renaldo Major, which led to a sub-par game from Almond.  Almond shot well enough (5-of-11 FG's, 1-for-3 3's, 5-of-8 FT's for 16 points), but he turned the ball over five times and looked completely out of sync.  He also didn't look great on defense, but that's never been a strong point and, ultimately, what's keeping him out of the NBA right now.  Still, I refuse to base his call-up status on one game, and the numbers really tell a great story.  As much as the preceding paragraph makes it seem as though he's undeserving of this spot in the rankings, he definitely is - teams can always use a scorer off the bench.

I have no idea how Brian Cardinal helps us more than these guys or anyone else on this list

FavreDollarFootlongs has a Tiger Woods Mistress Slot Machine

It's pretty fun and addicting. If you save Tiger and Elin's marriage you can win a free Favre Dollar Footlongs t-shirt! Lol.

Esquire.com is having a Sexiest Woman Alive Contest in the spirit of March Madness

If Dick Vitale saw some of the crazy upsets that were going on here his head would explode

Some nuggets of information from Jerry Zgoda:

-The 30-day moratorium on re-signing Brian Cardinal -- traded away to New York last month and quickly waived by the Knicks -- ends Saturday, which means there's a good chance he could be re-signed by Monday's home game against Toronto for his veteran locker-room presence these final weeks of the season.

Someone explain to me how exactly  this helps us more than signing a D-leaguer would, whom we could have had for the past 3 weeks...

-Rambis and basketball boss David Kahn will fly to New Orleans on today's off travel day back from Los Angeles and watch Kentucky and its four probable first-round picks -- including expected No. 1 overall choice John Wall -- play Wake Forest. After practice Sunday, they hope to watch Ohio State's Evan Turner and Georgia Tech's Derrick Favors play each other in Milwaukee.

I think he meant Timberwolves No. 1 overall choice John Wall

-Center Darko Milicic, acquired for Cardinal, had his first double-double (16 points, 12 rebounds) as a Timberwolf but went to the locker room late in the game because of back spasms. He also had three blocked shots.

I can't wait until Darko rips a wolves jersey in half so I can save it as my desktop picture.

-Guard Sasha Pavlovic was inactive for a third consecutive game Friday because of a strained calf.

Translation: He sucks and will most likely never play in the NBA again.

Lebron Scores His 15,000th point

From AP via ESPN:

James scored 13 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter, giving him 15,026 in his career, and had 11 rebounds. He scored seven in a row late in the game as Cleveland increased its lead to 10, sending the Bulls to their 10th straight loss.

James reached the milestone at 25 years, 79 days, and he did it in his 540th game. Bryant was 27 years, 136 days and playing his 657th game, according to STATS LLC, when he did it for the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Madness Marches On

The day's recap from Seth Davis/SI.com:

Opening salvo: Today was a little bit more of a standard day. It was a good day, there were a lot of interesting games, but I would say no classics, no buzzer-beaters. We knew today was definitely going to feel like a letdown compared to yesterday. But there were still some interesting games.

The Cornell-Temple game stands out as the most significant result of the day, and I think the Michigan State-New Mexico game was probably the best game.

Evan Tuner has an ugly game but they get the win

Turner was held to nine points on 2-of-13 shooting from the field. He did have 10 rebounds, and William Buford added 16 points for the Buckeyes. Ohio State advanced to play Sunday against No. 10 seed Georgia Tech, which beat seventh-seeded Oklahoma State 64-59 on Friday.

Turner did leave the court with something he didn't have before: a win in the NCAA tournament.

Afterward, Matta praised Turner for his composure and commitment to playing defense despite the rough shooting night. And as the Buckeyes move on, Turner's coach is expecting more offense."He'll be back," Matta said.

The Spurs scored 147 points against the Warriors

Yes you read that right, The San Antonio Spurs scored 147 points in an actual game.

From Tim Price/NBA.com:

"They probably shot over 80 percent," Warriors forward Corey Maggette said before looking at a final stat sheet that showed San Antonio had hit 62-of-96 from the floor.

It only seemed like the Spurs (41-26) were that hot because they were clipping along at more than 70 percent through three quarters. It was the most points the Spurs have scored in 19 seasons.

"Everybody got to play and got to score, and that's always a good thing," Gregg Popovich said, noting that each of the Spurs' 12 players made a basket.

Kobe Sleepwalks Through Game, Has Season-High 13 Assists

Sleep specialist Dr. S.A. Pnea explains: When a person is in a sleepwalking state, it is much easier to pass a basketball than to get the necessary power and lift to shoot a jumpshot.

Unfortunately, this didn't stop Kobe from making 13 of his 14 free throws. People who doubted whether Kobe could really make free throws in his sleep have now been silenced.

I wonder how Kobe would do if he played against the Wolves while in a coma?

Box Score

From Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune:

"It has nothing to do with coaches," Love said about his mounting frustrations recently. "It has nothing to do with teammates."

It is, he said, an inner issue in a season when he has been moved to a sixth man's role and where his playing time recently has ranged from 12 to Friday's 36 minutes a game.

From Bryan Chu for NBA.com:

Trailing by 10 at halftime, the Wolves went on a 12-1 run to take their first lead, 68-66, at the 4:30 mark.

The Lakers responded, scoring 15 unanswered points. Their rally hinged on defense as they forced six Minnesota turnovers. For the game, the Wolves turned the ball over 19 times, which led to 26 points for the Lakers.

"They just went on a little run," said Jonny Flynn, who had a team-high 20 points, of their brief lead. "We fought so hard to get back in the game and that kind of took a little bit out of us."

The Wolves, who have now lost 12 straight, including 18 of their last 19 games, had solid contributions from their big men. Kevin Love finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Darko Milicic had a season-high 16 points and 12 rebounds, which tied a season high. Al Jefferson chipped in with 14 and nine.

From Mark Heisler for The Los Angeles Times:

Coming into Friday's game with a four-game winning steak and a high probability of making it five against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Human Snooze Alarm ("Let me sleep a little longer, OK, Ma?"), the Lakers blew a 13-point lead, found themselves trailing in the third quarter and lost Andrew Bynum, who left because of a strained Achilles'.

Oh, the Lakers won, 104-96, to make it five in a row, after all, so no harm was really done, assuming Andrew's back by the playoffs.

Coach Phil Jackson said afterward they're a "a little concerned," about Bynum, noting, "He'll probably miss a little time."

Gameday Preview: Wolves-vs-Lakers 

From Jerry Zgoda at the Star Tribune:

The Wolves have lost 11 consecutive games and 17 of their last 18 after Wednesday's 122-100 loss at Utah. ... The Lakers won the only meeting between the teams so far, 104-92 at Staples Center in December. They've won the last nine times against the Wolves and make their only Target Center appearance on April 9.

The Kurt Rambis factor.

Few people know the Lakers better than Rambis, who was hired by the Timberwolves last August after 10 seasons as a Lakers assistant.

The Minnesota coach made his old team work hard for a 104-92 victory in December, packing the lane and daring the Lakers to score from outside, which they did…eventually…sort of.

I realize the article that they quoted doesn't really know what he's talking about, but why the hell would they even post this?  Seems pointless to me.  Fail.

Is March Madness Ever NOT Exciting?

From Jonathan Givony. New York Times NBA Blog:

With the majority of the top prospects on the 2010 DraftExpress mock draft in action this weekend, the N.C.A.A. tournament is one of the most active times on the N.B.A. scouting calendar for talent evaluators. Here are the player they will be watching and what they will be looking for:

1. John Wall, PG: 19 years old; 6-foot-4; 195 pounds; Kentucky; freshman.

He is one of the most electrifying athletes in college basketball, and he also brings strong playmaking ability, intense defensive effort and the ability to pick apart defenses at will. He draws comparisons to Derrick Rose and a young Jason Kidd.

If Kentucky gets past 16-seeded Eastern Tennessee State in the first round, as expected, on Thursday night, it will play Texas or Wake Forest on Saturday. These are two of the lone teams in college basketball that can match up athletically with Kentucky, and they have high-caliber N.B.A. prospects in their own right. The Saturday game should be a highlight of the weekend, for fans and for N.B.A. decision makers.

NBA Fan's Guide to March Madness

This could be helpful.  But I always thought that you just sit down and watch a billion games over a short amount of time.  From The Baseline's Eric Freeman:

It's March, which means the NBA is about to take a backseat to March Madness. In many years, that inspires a number of commentaries from both sides of the aisle about how the NBA is better than the NCAA, or vice-versa.

But I'm not here to take sides or rail against the tyranny of guys who only take charges and eighth-year seniors from schools with directional names.

March Madness Year of the Upset?

The Pioneer Press's Marcus Fuller points out the obvious:

One of the top two teams, Kansas or Kentucky, probably won't reach the Final Four. Both teams are loaded, but not as overwhelmingly talented as North Carolina was last season. The fact that the defending national champion Tar Heels didn't even make the tournament this season shows how bizarre this college basketball season has been. It could get crazier.

UPSET SPECIALS

The popular upset pick in the first round is always a No. 12 versus a No. 5. This year is no exception. Three of those four games could be upsets. Michigan State should be worried about New Mexico State. Butler should be worried about Texas-El Paso. Temple should be worried about Cornell, although I think the Owls will survive. But the co-Big Ten champion Spartans will really have to turn things

We lost to the Jazz, less than 24 hours after getting shellacked by the Suns.  That's 11 losses in a row, and 17 of our last 18 games.  Egads.  TwinCities.com reports:

Utah helps Timberwolves stretch losing streak to 11 games. Utah latest notch on Minnesota's losing streak

"They did a good job attacking us. We turned the ball over and they took advantage of it," Jefferson said. "You can't give it away against a team like Utah, especially at home."

Waste Hours of Your Life Playing With This

Who doesn't love the ESPN 2010 NBA Lottery Generator!?!  Fun for everyone... well, except when the TWolves keep coming up with the 5th pick.

While we are saddened with SG's departure, we are happy to announce the daily links will continue. Do check back in for a few other surprises in the next couple of days.

Jefferson upbeat, optimistic after 20 point loss vs. Utah last night.

Jerry Zgoda posts his game recap of last night's 11th straight loss.

It came one night after the Wolves surrendered 152 points and lost by 38 at Phoenix in a lost season when what's left to play for, according to their coach, is pride and dignity.

"Yeah, losing by 20 is a little better than losing by 40, I guess," center Al Jefferson said.

The Jazz -- now 44-24 after winning 25 of its last 32 games -- already has assured itself of its 20th winning season in the last 22

Kevin Love crabby, disgruntled, potentially hungry.

More from Jerry Z on his blog from last night's "well fought" contest in Utah.

"He's just got to continue to fight through with whatever frustration he's feeling now," Rambis said. "That's what guys do at this level. You've got to let go, move forward. Whatever is frustrating him, you let it go and continue to do the things that are his strengths.

"He does a good job of playing hard and does a great job of rebounding the basketball and he's such a team player. He just has to keep those concepts in his head."

Potential Future Wolf Evan Turner receives silver-tongued backup to Illini douchery

From Paul Banks at Not Qualified to Comment

Evan was candid about his disgust with the Illini trash-talking on Saturday. “They were just running their mouths too much, and that was it.They were hitting shots and front runners, and they were running them off entirely too much. That’s all I’m saying,” Turner re-iterated. Now I can’t verify this, but what I heard from three different reporters who were court-side for Illini-Ohio St, was Illini freshman D.J. Richardson supposedly said: “If I keep spanking you, they’re going to send my black ass to jail.  At Turner. And Turner’s friend/former high school teammate Demetri McCamey added: “You’re going to prison,” at Richardson.

Great comeback.

Derrick Rose thinks John Calipari is lunatic, Wall great.

From Nick Friedell. ESPN

"Wow," he said after a pause. "My game to John Wall's ... I really don't know. I haven't watched him really enough to look at his game like that or say anything about his game. All I know is that he is a great player. And they're playing good basketball right now, so I can't say anything about him. 

Rose does know that John Calipari, his former coach at Memphis, and Wall's current coach at Kentucky, is getting ready for March Madness in his own special way. 

"Coach Cal always flips out," Rose said. "It could be tournament play, practice, whatever. He's always yelling, always going crazy. That's Cal. If he's not doing that you know something's wrong."

This just in: Draft players who are not tentative, confused on court, named O'Bryant.

From Jonathan Givony. New York Times NBA Blog

A player must have the capacity to process this often highly complex information, though, and with the amount of time between the three N.C.A.A. tournament weekends, we can begin to get a feel for how well prepared a player is mentally and tactically for the matchup at hand.

Is he nervous, tentative and confused about his team’s game plan? Is he able to adjust quickly to developments on the court? Will the ball get heavy in his hands late in games? Will he be capable of making good decisions?

When John Wall and Evan Turner bring the ball up the court late in games for their respective Kentucky and Ohio State teams, the eyes of every N.B.A. team will be on them, trying to assess how they respond to playing in the biggest game of their career. Will they want the ball and be willing to take responsibilities?